Finally, one of the most controversial Test series ended. The four-match Test series between the hosts South Africa and the visitors Australia ended with the 3-1 result for the host side.
Since the beginning of the series, the serious controversies led over the bat and ball fights. Starting from David Warner-Quinton de Kock off-field verbal fights, international cricket also saw unsportsmanlike sledging on the field, Nathan Lyon’s unsportsmanlike behavior after AB de Villiers’ dismissal, Kagiso Rabada’s shoulder hit to Steven Smith and the most controversial ball-tampering.
Also read: Aamer Sohail claims PCB need to learn how to handle the scandal from ball-tampering row
Coming to the series, hosts South Africa made a superb comeback after losing the first Test. After losing the first game, South Africa clinched dominating victories in the last three matches.
After the end of the series, now we will look at some important statistical highlights of this series.
(Team Stats)
Batting aggregate stats
| Top order (1-4) | ||||
| Team | Runs scored | Average | Highest Score | 100s/50s |
| South Africa | 1339 | 44.63 | 152 | 3/8 |
| Australia | 830 | 25.93 | 77 | 0/7 |
| Middle order (5-8) | ||||
| Team | Runs scored | Average | Highest Score | 100s/50s |
| South Africa | 825 | 35.86 | 126* | 2/4 |
| Australia | 627 | 21.62 | 96 | 0/3 |
| Lower order (9-11) | ||||
| Team | Runs scored | Average | Highest Score | 100s/50s |
| South Africa | 194 | 11.41 | 45 | 0/0 |
| Australia | 223 | 11.73 | 47 | 0/0 |
Bowling aggregate stats
| Pacers | |||||
| Team | Wickets taken | Average | Best figure in an innings | Best figure in a match | 5wk/10wk |
| South Africa | 59 | 18.59 | 6/21 | 11/150 | 4/1 |
| Australia | 52 | 32.13 | 5/34 | 9/109 | 2/0 |
| Spinners | |||||
| Team | Wickets taken | Average | Best figure in an innings | Best figure in a match | 5wk/10wk |
| South Africa | 18 | 33.27 | 5/123 | 9/225 | 1/0 |
| Australia | 16 | 43.93 | 3/50 | 5/145 | 0/0 |
(Individual Stats)
Top five run-scorers in this series
| Player (Team) | Innings (Matches) | Runs scored | Average | Highest Score | 100s/50s |
| Aiden Markram (South Africa) | 8 (4) | 480 | 60.00 | 152 | 2/1 |
| AB de Villiers (South Africa) | 8 (4) | 427 | 71.16 | 126* | 1/4 |
| Dean Elgar (South Africa) | 8 (4) | 333 | 47.57 | 141* | 1/2 |
| Cameron Bancroft (Australia) | 3 (6) | 223 | 37.16 | 77 | 0/2 |
| Quinton de Kock (South Africa) | 7 (4) | 223 | 31.85 | 83 | 0/2 |
Top five wicket-takers in this series
| Player (Team) | Innings (Matches) | Wickets taken | Average | Best figure in an innings | Best figure in a match | 5wk/10wk |
| Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) | 8 (4) | 23 | 19.26 | 6/54 | 11/150 | 2/1 |
| Pat Cummins (Australia) | 8 (4) | 22 | 21.45 | 5/83 | 9/141 | 1/0 |
| Keshav Maharaj (South Africa) | 8 (4) | 17 | 33.64 | 5/123 | 9/225 | 1/0 |
| Vernon Philander (South Africa) | 8 (4) | 16 | 16.81 | 6/21 | 9/51 | 1/0 |
| Nathan Lyon (Australia) | 8 (4) | 16 | 42.56 | 3/50 | 5/145 | 0/0 |
Also read: Morne Morkel will miss the game as he enjoyed everything
(Other important stats)
- Since 1969/70, it was the first time when South Africa won the home Test series against Australia.
- After losing the first Test, South Africa won the last three matches. It was the first time when South Africa won three Tests after losing the first one of a Test series.
- It was the fourth time when South Africa won the Test series after coming from behind. The other three times were against New Zealand in 1994/95 (won by 2-1), against India in 2006/07 (won by 2-1) and against West Indies in 2007/08 (won by 2-1). South Africa was the host nation in all those series.
- None of the Australian batsmen played a century knock in this series. Playing more than three matches in a Test series, it was the only third time when Australian players failed to score at least one century in the series. Previously, it happened in 1956 Ashes in England (5 matches) and 1969/70 tour in South Africa (4 matches).
- South African batsman AB de Villiers (2,068 runs) became the most Test runs scorer as a South African batsman against Australia. He surpassed the record of Jacques Kallis’ 1,978 Test runs against Australia.
- South African batsman Aiden Markram scored 480 runs in this series. Since South Africa’s readmission in the international cricket (1991/92), it is the most runs scored by any South African batsman in a Test series against Australia.
- Also, Aiden Markram (480 runs) became the third most runs scorer as a South African opening batsman in a Test series against Australia. The top two in this list is 603 runs by Eddie Barlow (in Australia, 1963/64) and 508 runs by Barry Richards (in South Africa, 1969/70).
- South African pacer Kagiso Rabada took total 23 wickets in this series. Since South Africa’s readmission in the international cricket (1991/92), it is the most no.of wickets taken by any bowler in the Australia vs South Africa Test series.
- South African spinner Keshav Maharaj took total 17 wickets in this series. Joint most no.of wickets taken by a South African spinner against Australia in a home Test series. Former off-spinner Hugh Tayfield had also achieved that same figure twice (in 1949/50 and in 1957/58).
