South Africa vs England: Statistical review of the Test series
England sealed the fourth and final Test against South Africa to win the series by a 3-1 margin. The hosts lost the fourth Test by 191 runs on Monday. Looking at the key takeaways, SA had many issues on board. Meanwhile, England performed collectively to bear the fruits. Here is the statistical review of the Test series.
SA fail to get past 300 in the series
One of the major reasons for South Africa's demise is that the side failed to get past 300 runs in an innings across the series. Their best score managed by SA was 284 at Centurion in the Boxing Day Test. They managed to get past 250 on just three occasions in the series. Meanwhile, England posted two scores of 400-plus and one of 300-plus.
SA fail to list a single century, England get three
Another major issue for South Africa was that no batsman managed to score a century in the Test series. The highest individual score was posted by Rassie van der Dussen (98) in the fourth Test. Quinton de Kock's 95 and Dean Elgar's 88 were the other two scores of 80-plus in the series. In contrast, England had three different centurions.
England show character with the ball, Nortje shines for SA
England dominated the proceedings with the ball in a collective fashion. Stuart Broad claimed 14 scalps at 19.42. The likes of Chris Wood (12), Ben Stokes (10), Sam Curran (10), James Anderson (9) and Dominic Bess (8) showed the versatility on offer. Wood, Bess and Anderson didn't feature in the entire series. SA saw Anrich Nortje claim 18 scalps to be the highest wicket-taker.
England batsmen step up, De Kock is SA's lone warrior
England has three batsmen score in excess of 300-plus runs in the series. Dominic Sibley (324), Stokes (318) and Joe Root (317) contributed for the side. In contrast, Quinton de Kock was the lone warrior for SA. He scored the most runs in the series (380). However, nobody else managed to score 300-plus runs. Only two SA batsmen got 200-plus runs in the series.