David Warner’s brilliant knock of 173-run went in vain as Australia lost the fifth One-Day International (ODI) of the series against South Africa at Cape Town. They had already lost previous four ODI of the series. Batting first, South Africa had poor start as they lost their first three-wickets at 52. From there on, JP Duminy and Rilee Rossouw built an excellent partnership of 182 runs for fourth-wicket. Rossouw ended up scoring 122, while Duminy made 73. After them, wickets kept tumbling for South Africa in death overs but managed to post strong total of 327 for the loss of eight wickets.
Pacer Chris Tremain and Joe Mennie scalped three-wickets each for Australia, while Scott Boland got two wickets. Coming into chase, Australia could have lost this game way before if Quinton de Kock had not dropped Warner’s in the sixth over of match. Warner took full advantage of reprieve kept the flow of run continuous but wickets kept falling from the other. Beside Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head, no other batsmen from Australian batting could even touch 20-run mark with seven of them got out under 10. Had there been any support to Warner, then the outcome could have been something else. Abhishek Kumar presents some interesting records which were broken and made during this final ODI.
South Africa beat Australia by 5-0 — for the first time in the history of cricket across the format, Australia has beaten by a team in five consecutive matches of a bilateral series. Australia’s previous worst record in bilateral series came against England in 2012, where they lost four ODIs in the series.
2016 — Whitewash year for Australia: They started this year by getting whitewashed by India at home in a 3-match Twenty20 International series, then, they faced similar result against Sri Lanka in Warne-Muralitharan Trophy and now in ODIs as well as South Africa clean sweep over Australia by 5-0.
Teams with most 5-0 series win in ODIs: Pakistan — five times, South Africa — four times, West Indies — four times, Sri Lanka — four times, Australia — four times, India — three times, Bangladesh — two times, New Zealand and England — only once.
Most centuries by an Australian batsman in a calendar year: Ricky Ponting — five hundreds in 31 innings in 2003, Matthew Hayden — five hundreds in 30 innings in 2007, Ricky Ponting — five hundreds in 24 innings in 2007, David Warner — five hundreds in 20 innings in 2016 and Dean Jones — four hundreds in 22 innings in 1990.
Most runs in ODIs in 2016: David Warner — 1,089 runs, Steven Smith — 918 runs, Quinton de Kock — 857 runs, Joe Root — 796 runs, George Bailey — 768 runs, Alex Hales — 743 runs, Babar Azam — 656 runs and Dinesh Chandimal — 656 runs.
Most runs in an ODI series/tournament on a losing cause: Brendan Taylor — 386 runs in World Cup 2015, David Warner — 386 runs vs South in 2016, Virat Kohli — 373 runs vs Australia in 2016, Hansie Cronje — 354 runs in Wills Triangular Series of 1994 and Rohit Sharma — 342 runs vs Australia in 2016.
Highest individual score in ODIs on a losing cause: Charles Coventry — 194 not out vs Bangladesh in 2009, Matthew Hayden — 181 not out vs New Zealand in 2007, Sachin Tendulkar — 175 vs Australia in 2009, David Warner — 173 vs South Africa in 2016 and Rohit Sharma — 171 not out vs Australia in 2016.
Most runs by an Australian batsman in a bilateral ODI series: George Bailey — 478 runs vs India in 2013, David Warner — 386 runs vs South Africa in 2016, Andrew Symonds — 365 vs India in 2007, Geoff Marsh — 349 runs vs West Indies in 1991 and Steven Smith — 315 runs vs India in 2016.
Most runs by a batsman in a bilateral ODI series against South Africa: Kevin Pietersen — 454 runs in 2005, David Warner — 386 runs in 2016, Alex Hales — 383 runs in 2016, Kumar Sangakkara — 372 runs in 2013 and Joe Root — 351 runs in 2016.
Most number of centuries in ODIs since 2015: David Warner — seven hundreds, Hashim Amla — six hundreds, Quinton de Kock — five hundreds, Martin Guptill — five hundreds and Rohit Sharma — five hundreds.
Most wickets taken by Australian bowlers in a bilateral ODI series on losing cause: 28-wickets vs South Africa in 2016, 21-wickets vs West Indies in 1995, 21-wickets vs England in 2010, 19-wickets vs South Africa in 2009 and 18-wickets vs South Africa in 2006.
Most wickets taken by South Africa bowlers in a bilateral ODI series on winning cause: 52-wickets vs England in 1996, 48-wickets vs West Indies in 1999, 41-wickets vs West Indies in 2001, 41-wickets vs Australia in 2016 and 40-wickets vs West Indies in 2005.
Teams scoring 300 or above at home in ODIs: India — 40 times, South Africa — 39 times, Australia —38 times, England — 26 times and New Zealand — 25 times.
Teams scoring 300 or above at home against Australia in ODIs: South Africa — 8 times, India — 8 times, New Zealand —6 times, England — 3 times, New Zealand and West Indies — only once.
Most boundaries by a South African batsman at number four in ODOIs: Rilee Rossouw — 14 fours vs Australia in 2016, Neil McKenzie — 13 fours vs Sri Lanka in 2000, AB de Villiers — 13 fours vs Netherlands in 2011, Jacques Rudolph — 12 fours vs Zimbabwe in 2003 and AB de Villiers — 12 fours vs Pakistan in 2011.
Highest fourt-wicket partnership for South Africa in ODIs: Daryl Cullinan and Jonty Rhodes — 232 runs vs Pakistan in 1996, Rilee Rossouw and JP Duminy — 178 runs vs Australia in 2016, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers — unbeaten 172 vs England in 2012, Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers — 171 vs India in 2013 and Hansie Cronje and Gary Kirsten — 154 runs vs India in 1996.
Highest individual score in ODIs without any six: David Warner — 173 runs vs South Africa in 2016, Tillakaratne Dilshan — 161 not out vs Bangladesh in 2015, Hashim Amla — 153 not out vs West Indies in 2015, Brian Lara — 153 vs Pakistan in 1993 and Sachin Tendulkar — 152 vs Namibia in 2003.
Highest individual score in ODIs to end in a run out: David Warner — 173 vs South Africa in 2016, Hamilton Mazakadza — 156 vs Kenya in 2009, Rahul Dravid — vs 145 Sri Lanka in 1999, Kevin O’Brien — 142 vs Nairobi in 2007 and Sachin Tendulkar — 141 vs Australia in 1998.
(Abhishek Kumar is a cricket devotee currently staffing with CricketCountry.com. He can be followed on Twitter @abhik2593 and on Facebook at abhicricket.kumar)