Stats: The opening day with the most wickets in 122 years – Cricbuzz

INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2023-24

South Africa's total of 55 is the lowest total against India in Tests ©Getty

A look at all the key numbers from day one of the ongoing second Test between South Africa and India at Newlands, Cape Town:

23 – A total of 23 wickets fell in Cape Town on Wednesday, the second most on the opening day of a Test match in the game's 147-year history, behind only the 25 recorded on the first day of the second Ashes 1901-02 Test between Australia and England in Melbourne . It was also the highest joint wicket tally in a single day of a Test match in South Africa, alongside the 2011 match in which the hosts and Australia played at the same venue.

Most wickets in a single day in Tests

Most wickets taken on the first day of a Test

55 The number of runs South Africa scored in their first innings is their lowest all-out total against India in Tests, seven less than what New Zealand managed in Mumbai in 2021.

Lowest all-out totals against India in Tests

23.2 The most overs India scored to defeat South Africa in the first innings were the fewest India ever bowled in a Test to dismiss an opponent. Their previous record was 25.1 overs when they defeated the same team by 84 overs in Johannesburg in 2006 To their first Test win in the country.

8th There are instances where South Africa recorded a total score of 55 or less in Tests, the most for any team, the next highest being five each for Australia, England and New Zealand. Interestingly, of the 36 cases where teams were allocated scores of 55 or less in Tests, seven came to Cape Town, the most at one venue, followed by six at Lord's.

Overall, it was the eighth lowest total number of tests in South Africa and the lowest since the Second World War.

Lowest all-out totals for South Africa in Tests

The lowest totals for South Africa since readmission

9 – South Africa's 55 all out is the ninth lowest first innings total in Tests. Three of the last four cases – between September 1948 and January 2024 – occurred in Cape Town.

Lowest innings total in the first innings of a Test match

6-15 – Mohammed Siraj's bowling returns are the third best for an Indian bowler in Tests in South Africa, behind only Shardul Thakur's 7-61 in Johannesburg in 2022 and Harbhajan Singh's 7-120 in the 2011 New Year's Test in Cape Town.

15 The runs conceded by Mohammed Siraj are the second fewest conceded by an Indian bowler in a Test with six wickets in an innings and the fourth fewest in a five-wicket haul.

Cheapest Test five-fors for India (by runs conceded)

9 Overs bowled by Mohammed Siraj, the fewest by an Indian bowler in Tests to achieve a six-wicket haul. The previous record belonged to Venkatesh Prasad, who took 6/33 in 10.2 overs against Pakistan in Chennai in 1999.

0 partnership runs added by India's last five pairs in their innings ©AFP

6 Wickets fell in the Indian innings at a score of 153, marking the most notable batting collapse in Test history. Never before has a team lost more wickets for a given score in a Test innings.

Most wickets fall at a given score in a Test innings

Partnership runs were added by India's last five pairs in their innings, the first such incident for a team in Test cricket history. Before today, the lowest partnership total for the last five pairs in a comprehensive Test innings was 3 by England against Australia in Melbourne in 1990, followed by 4 by New Zealand against Pakistan in Auckland in 2001.

6 Ducks recorded by India in their first innings is a joint record in Tests. They had already registered that many against England in Manchester in 2014.

Most ducks recorded in a Test innings

4 – Dean Elgar, who compiled a match-winning hundred in the first Test at Centurion, did not make much of an impression with the bat in his farewell Test, recording scores of 4 and 12. However, he crossed 1,000 runs against India in the format and was named after Jacques Kallis (1734). , Hashim Amla (1528) and AB de Villiers (1334) the fourth South African batsman to record more than 1,000 Test runs against the opposition.

8th Batters have recorded more than 1,000 runs as an opener in Tests against India, with Elgar being the last to do so with 1012. The other seven batters to achieve this feat are Alastair Cook (2431), Matthew Hayden (1888) and Gordon Greenidge (1678), Graham Gooch (1518), Mudassar Nazar (1210), David Warner (1195) and Geoffrey Boycott (1084).

5121 Dean Elgar's runs are the fourth highest total for South Africa as an opener in Tests, after Graeme Smith's 9018, Gary Kirsten's 5726 and Herschelle Gibbs' 5242.

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