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At last: a series average
Wisden CricInfo staff - March 8, 2002
Adam Gilchrist was dismissed for the first time in the series – after making 366 runs off 345 balls. His Test average of 60.38 puts him behind only Don Bradman (99.94), Graeme Pollock (60.97), George Headley (60.83) and Herbert Sutcliffe (60.73) among batsmen who have played 15 Test innings.
Ricky Ponting made his 10th century in his 55th Test - but it was his first in the second innings. It was also his fifth overseas, but the first overseas in an Australian victory since his maiden ton - 127 at Headingley in 1997.
This was the 12th time Ponting had batted in the fourth innings of a Test - he had never previously scored more than 26.
When he was dismissed for 96 in the second innings, Matthew Hayden fell four runs short of making five centuries in consecutive Tests.
South Africa lost five Tests in a row for the first time since 1960, when they lost five Tests to Australia (in 1957-58) and England. Since returning to Test cricket in 1991-92 they have lost 11 matches in 18 to Australia, and 11 in 76 against the rest.
Only nine teams have chased more than 331 to win a Test match - and that list includes Australia on five occasions, most recently when they scored 369 for 6 to beat Pakistan at Hobart in 1999-2000. In 1949-50 Australia beat South Africa by five wickets after being set 336 to win at Durban.
Neil McKenzie became the unlucky 13th member of an exclusive club when he was run out for 99 in a Test. The full list is:
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WA Brown |
A v I |
Melb'ne |
1947-48 |
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AR Morris |
A v SA |
Melb'ne |
1952-53 |
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JEF Beck |
NZ v SA |
Cape Tn |
1953-54 |
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RB Kanhai |
WI v I |
Madras |
1958-59 |
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ML Jaisimha |
I v P |
Kanpur |
1960-61 |
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MJK Smith |
E v P |
Lahore |
1961-62 |
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Mushtaq Moh'd |
P v E |
Karachi |
1972-73 |
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GA Gooch |
E v A |
Melb'ne |
1979-80 |
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DN Patel |
NZ v E |
C'church |
1991-92 |
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MA Atherton |
E v A |
Lord's |
1993 |
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M Jayawardene |
SL v WI |
Galle |
2001-02 |
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JH Kallis |
SA v A |
Melb'ne |
2001-02 |
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ND McKenzie |
SA v A |
Cape Tn |
2001-02 |
Shane Warne will have good reason to remember his 100th Test. His second-innings return of 6 for 161 was his 21st Test five-for, and he delivered more overs in one innings - 70 - than he ever had before. He bowled 55 against South Africa at Durban in 1993-94.
Gilchrist made his sixth hundred in 30 Tests, his fourth outside Australia and his second in a row.
Paul Adams became the eighth South African, and only the second South African spinner, to take 100 Test wickets when he dismissed Jason Gillespie. Adams is playing in his 35th Test.
In his 100th Test, Warne became the ninth person to make 2000 runs and take 200 wickets, after Richie Benaud, Garry Sobers, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Shaun Pollock.
Warne added 132 with Gilchrist, a record for the seventh-wicket in 34 Tests at Newlands. The previous-best was 128, by Keith Stackpole and Graeme Watson in 1966-67.
Ricky Ponting continued his recent propensity for wasting a good start. Since he made 157 not out against New Zealand in the second Test at Hobart last November, his scores have been: 31, 26, 54, 25, 22, 0*, 14, 39 and 47.
The first ball of the 17th over of South Africa's first innings, from Brett Lee to Jacques Kallis, was timed at 157.3 kph (98.3 mph), the fastest recorded delivery since the introduction of the current Speedgun technology. Shoaib Akhtar was timed at 157.2 kph (98.2 mph) in a one-day international against Australia at Cardiff in June 2001, while Lee's previous-quickest delivery was 156 kph (97.5 mph), in an ODI against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1999-2000. Back in the 1970s, when the technology was different, Jeff Thomson was timed in the nets as bowling at 158.4 kph (99 mph).
Andrew Hall became the first South African to make a half-century on debut since Hylton Ackerman made 57 against Pakistan at Durban in 1997-98. Hall's was also the first fifty by a South African in this series.
Adams made his highest score in 35 Tests, surpassing the famous 29 he made against England on this ground in 1995-96.
South Africa gave debuts to Graeme Smith, Andrew Hall and Dewald Pretorius – the first time they had three debutants since their second Test back in international cricket, against India at Durban in 1992-93. Then they had five debutants: Jimmy Cook, Jonty Rhodes, Brian McMillan, Omar Henry and Brett Schultz.
With Ashwell Prince having made his debut at Johannesburg, and Justin Ontong in the Test before at Sydney, South Africa had given five debuts in three Tests against Australia, contests that are traditionally the preserve of more experienced players. Before that, they had not had a single debutant for 13 Tests against Australia, going back to Melbourne 1993-94, when Gary Kirsten and Fanie de Villiers played their first Tests.
As well as Shane Warne playing his 100th Test, Justin Langer is the 36th Australian to play in 50 Tests. He made his debut against West Indies at Adelaide in 1992-93.
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
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