Stats - A rare triumph for spin in South Africa
Bangladesh's new low and other statistical highlights from the Durban Test
ESPNcricinfo stats team
04-Apr-2022
Keshav Maharaj needed just 60 balls to pick up his seven wickets, the second-fastest since the start of 2002 • Getty Images
South Africa didn't have it easy, but put it past Bangladesh by 220 runs in their first Test, in Durban, after bowling the visiting side out for 53 in their second innings. Here's a look at some of the top numbers from the game.
53 - Bangladesh's total in their second innings, their second-lowest in Tests, and the lowest by any team in Durban. Bangladesh's lowest is 43, against West Indies in North Sound in 2018. The earlier record for lowest Test total in Durban was India's 66, in 1996.
10 - Wickets for Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer in the second innings, only the third time South Africa's spinners have taken all the wickets in an innings. The two previous instances were also in Durban - against Australia in 1950, and against England in 1948.
2 - Bowlers who operated unchanged through Bangladesh's entire second innings, which is a first for South Africa, and a first for any team against Bangladesh. This has only happened 28 times in Test history, with the last such instance taking place at Lord's in 2019, when Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes ran through Ireland in their second innings.
This is also only the second time that two spinners have opened the bowling for South Africa. The only other such instance was when Paul Adams and Pat Symcox shared the new ball against Pakistan in the fourth innings in Faisalabad in 1997. Pakistan, chasing 146 to win, were bowled out for 92, but Shaun Pollock, bowling first change, did the bulk of the damage, taking five wickets.
0 - Balls bowled by South Africa's fast bowlers in the second innings, the first time in over 100 years that a seamer didn't bowl a single delivery in a completed innings for South Africa.
7-32 - Maharaj's figures in the second innings, the best by a spinner in South Africa in the last 65 years. The last time a spinner did better here was in February 1957, when Hugh Tayfield took 9 for 113. The overall tally of 20 wickets for spinners in this Test is also the best in South Africa since December 1957, while South Africa's haul of 14 spin wickets is the best by a team in South Africa since England's spinners took 15 in a Test in December 1964, also in Durban.
60 - Balls Maharaj needed to take seven wickets, the second-fastest for anyone since the start of 2002. The only instance of a bowler taking seven in fewer deliveries in this period was when Broad destroyed Australia with his 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge in 2015; he took his first seven wickets in just 42 balls in that innings. Maharaj's five-for came in 35 balls, which is the second-fastest for South Africa where the information is available; Tayfield took a five-for in 33 balls against Australia in 1950.
114 - The length of Bangladesh's second innings in terms of balls. In the last 50 years, there have only been five instances of a complete innings lasting fewer deliveries, which includes Bangladesh's 112-ball innings when they made 43 in North Sound.
6.1 - The factor by which Bangladesh's first innings was longer than their second: their first innings lasted 695 balls. In the entire history of Test cricket, there have only been four instances of a higher ratio, when a team has been bowled out in one innings. The highest factor was 7.54, by Pakistan in the famous drawn Test in Barbados in 1958, when they were bundled in 42.2 overs in the first innings, and went on to bat 319 overs in the second, when Hanif Mohammad made a monumental 337.
5.30 - The average runs per wicket for spinners in Bangladesh's second innings, the best in the 122 innings when spin has accounted for all ten wickets. The strike rate of 11.4 balls per wicket is also the best in these 122 innings.