AB de Villiers (74) has scored at least a 50 in each of his last 10 Tests. He now holds the South African record of scoring half-centuries in most consecutive Tests, going past Jacques Kallis, who scored fifties in 9 consecutive Tests in 2007. The world record is of 11 matches, shared by Viv Richards, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag.
Kallis has now made 103 scores of 50 or more in Test cricket (44 hundreds and 59 fifties), which puts him at level with Australia’s Ricky Ponting. Only Sachin Tendulkar (119) is ahead of Kallis.
If Kallis scores a ton in this innings, he will be the fourth South African to score a 100 in his last Test. The others are: Pieter van der Bijl (125 vs England, Durban, 1938-39), Lee Irvine (102 v Australia, Port Elizabeth, 1969-70) and Barry Richards (126 v Australia, Port Elizabeth, 1969-70).
Incidentally, the last player to score a 100 in his last Test was Australia’s Phil Jaques, who made 108 against West Indies at Bridgetown in 2007-08).
Ravindra Jadeja’s figures of 4/87 are the best by an Indian left-arm spinner in South Africa. Venkatapathy Raju’s 3/73 at Port Elizabeth in 1992-93 was the previous best.
The last Indian left-arm spinner to take 4 or more wickets in an innings in a Test outside the subcontinent was Ravi Shastri, who took 4/45 against Australia at Sydney in 1991-92.
Ravindra Jadeja has now taken 81 wickets in international cricket in 2013 – which are the most by a left-arm spinner in a calendar year. The previous record was held by Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath, who took 78 wickets in 2012.
