Could Andrew Strauss break a fielding record at Headingley? Benedict Bermange has the stats...
Benedict brings you his stats for the second Test...
Before now, the last time England
lost two successive Tests by an innings to the same opposition was in the 2002/03 Ashes series when they lost at Adelaide and Perth.
The
last 12 Tests at Headingley dating back to 1997 have produced results, equalling the English ground record of 12 straight - from 1955 to 1967 and from 1981 to 1993 - both also at Headingley. The
SCG produced results in its
first 37 Tests from 1882 to 1947.
Only
two of the last 27 Tests at Headingley have ended drawn - England v South Africa in 1994 and England v Pakistan in 1996.
In 68 first-class matches for Yorkshire,
Jacques Rudolph scored 5429 runs at 52.20 with 18 centuries.
South Africa will be trying to
win successive Tests for the first time since January 2010, when they beat England and India at Johannesburg and Nagpur respectively - 19 and 20 Tests ago for the Proteas.
On the
last three occasions South Africa have won Tests by an innings (v India at Nagpur in 2010, v India at Centurion in 2010 and v Sri Lanka at Centurion in 2011) they have gone on to lose the following Test.
Hashim Amla's innings of 311* was the 26th Test triple-century. In the 25 innings following those triple-centuries, 1049 runs have been scored with 1 not out, at an average of 43.71.
Graeme Smith will be captaining his 93rd Test Match, equalling Allan Border's Test record. Border won 32, lost 22 and drew 39 of his 93. Smith has won 43, lost 26 and drawn 23 of his 92 in charge so far.
Since the start of England's last tour to South Africa, six specialist batsmen have occupied the
number six position for England (plus James Anderson twice). Ian Bell has the best record there by a long way:
| Name |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
HS |
Avg |
100 |
50 |
| IR Bell |
13 |
4 |
720 |
140 |
80.00 |
2 |
5 |
| MJ Prior |
6 |
0 |
212 |
73 |
35.33 |
0 |
2 |
| PD Collingwood |
4 |
1 |
82 |
40 |
27.33 |
0 |
0 |
| EJG Morgan |
18 |
0 |
436 |
130 |
24.22 |
1 |
1 |
| JM Bairstow |
3 |
0 |
38 |
18 |
12.66 |
0 |
0 |
| RS Bopara |
3 |
0 |
29 |
22 |
9.66 |
0 |
0 |
Andrew Strauss needs 43 runs and Kevin Pietersen needs 85 runs to reach 7000 in Test cricket. Both also have the chance to move past Len Hutton's 6971 runs and into eighth place among Englishmen.
Strauss still needs one catch to become England's leading catcher in the field, surpassing Ian Botham and Colin Cowdrey, who also took 120 catches.
Jonathan Trott scored six centuries in his first 19 Tests, but has struggled in his last 13:
| Matches |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
HS |
Avg |
100 |
50 |
| First 19 |
31 |
4 |
1803 |
226 |
66.77 |
6 |
5 |
| Last 13 |
24 |
1 |
737 |
112 |
32.04 |
1 |
6 |
If he plays,
James Taylor at 5 feet 5 inches would be one of the shortest England Test cricketers. The shortest on record was Tich Freeman, who stood 5 feet 2 inches and played 12 Tests in the 1920s. Wicket-keeper Tich Cornford, who played four Tests against New Zealand in 1930 was a similar height.
If he were to bat with
Steven Finn, it would possibly be the largest difference in height at the crease since Curtly Ambrose batted with David Williams for the West Indies in 1998. Taylor has already batted with Will Jefferson (6 feet 10 inches) in first-class cricket.
