Nasty verbal exchanges. Overdone celebrations. Suspension. Overturning suspension. Ball tampering. Bans.
NUMBERS GAME
Stats highlights: A historic win and the shootout between pace trios
This was South Africa's first home series win against Australia since their re-admission into international cricket. © AFP
This series had it all. And yes, a bit of competitive cricket was also played in the meantime. Australia continued the rich vein of form from the Ashes Down Under winning the first Test in Durban, but South Africa hit back in the second Test through a brilliant spell by Kagiso Rabada on the first afternoon in Port Elizabeth, followed by a masterly crafted hundred by AB de Villiers. The teams arrived in Cape Town with scores locked 1-1 but the untoward incidents on the third day afternoon meant on field action took a backseat. The hosts made short work of Australia on the fourth day to go up 2-1 and completed the formalities with the knockout punch in the final Test at the Wanderers.
South Africa broke the hoodoo by winning their first home series against Australia since their re-admission to the international cricket fraternity in 1991/92. This was their third series win against Australia at home following their 3-1 win in 1966/67 and 4-0 whitewash four years later, in 1969/70, just days before they were forced into an exile.
The series had few uncanny resemblances with the 4-0 whitewash in 1969/70. That series was the last time Australia played a series of four or more Tests without any batsman reaching three-figure scores. The highest for them this series was Mitchell Marsh's 96 in the second innings in Durban. In both the series, Australian batsmen posted ten fifties, each without converting them to three-figure knocks. Australia also failed to forge a century stand in the entire series - only other such instance for them in a series of four or more matches was in the 1969/70 rubber in South Africa.
Series comparisons - 1969/70 & 2017/18
| Parameter | 1969/70 | 2017/18 |
|---|---|---|
| Margin | 4-0 SA | 3-1 SA |
| Aus bat avg | 20.60 | 21.00 |
| SA bat avg | 38.67 | 33.68 |
| Aus 50s/100s | 0/10 | 0/10 |
| SA 50s/100s | 6/12 | 5/12 |
| Aus bowl avg | 40.48 | 34.91 |
| SA bowl avg | 21.12 | 22.02 |
| Aus 100+ stands | 0 | 0 |
| SA 100+ stands | 5 | 4 |
South Africa averaged more than Australia for all but three wickets - first, fourth and tenth wickets. Australia's opening partnerships averaged nearly ten runs more per innings than host's but South African openers averaged 54.20 to the visitor's 31.18 converting three of their six fifty-plus scores to daddy hundreds. Aiden Markram was the leading run-getter of the series from either side with 480 runs at 60 while Dean Elgar aggregated 333 runs at 47.57. In six of the eight innings, either of the two put up a score in excess of fifty.
The biggest gulf is average runs per partnership was for the fourth wicket, where South Africa managed 57.50 run per stand, Australia could muster only 21.25 per stand. The reason behind this was the contrasting exploits for the lead batsman from either sides who occupied the crucial number four slot. While AB de Villiers had his best series at home in terms of runs scored, his opposite number, and the mainstay of Australian batting, Steve Smith endeared his worst ever series. De Villiers was the second highest run-getter of the series behind Markram with 427 runs, including a match winning hundred in Port Elizabeth, and four other scores in excess of fifty. The previous most he had in a home series was the 362 runs he scored in his debut series way back in 2004/05 and the only series amassed more was in West Indies in 2005 when he scored 460 from four Tests.
On the other hand, Smith hit the ground running with a typical gritty 56 in Durban, but things started to go south for him from then on, before he was eventually suspended for the final Test following the ball-tampering confession during the third Test. He averaged only 23.66 in the series eclipsing the previous worst average of 25.00 in his debut series against Pakistan in England in 2010. Stand-in captain Tim Paine was the only batsman to average more than 40 among the visitors while Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh all averaged well below 25.00.
Average partnerships each wicket this series:
| Wkt# | SA - Avg | SA - 100s/50s | Aus - Avg | Aus - 100s/50s | Avg diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30.12 | 0/2 | 40.87 | 0/3 | -10.75 |
| 2 | 42.62 | 0/3 | 17.12 | 0/0 | 25.50 |
| 3 | 57.50 | 2/1 | 21.25 | 0/1 | 36.25 |
| 4 | 34.50 | 1/0 | 37.12 | 0/3 | -2.62 |
| 5 | 29.85 | 0/2 | 18.75 | 0/1 | 11.10 |
| 6 | 39.14 | 1/1 | 15.00 | 0/1 | 24.14 |
| 7 | 47.00 | 0/3 | 20.00 | 0/1 | 27.00 |
| 8 | 24.33 | 0/1 | 12.87 | 0/0 | 11.46 |
| 9 | 32.50 | 0/3 | 18.87 | 0/1 | 13.63 |
| 10 | 6.00 | 0/0 | 18.37 | 0/0 | -12.37 |
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