Former South African Captain Hansie Cronje

Former South African Captain Hansie Cronje

Dream Debut of Dane Piedt

Dane Piedt became the first South African spinner to pick up 8 wickets and also win the Man of the Match award in his maiden Test against Zimbabwe in Aug 2014.

Dean Elgar first South Africa opener to make a Test hundred in Sri Lanka

A left-hand top-order batsman, Dean Elgar was the South African opening batsman showed a lot of promise in his century against Sri Lanka. He took him nearly six years to impress the South Africa selectors. Elgar made an impact by scoring century and became the first South Africa opener to make a Test hundred in Sri Lanka. Elgar Made 103 runs of 189 balls with the help of 11 Fours and 3 Sizes. South Africa tour of Sri Lanka, 1st Test: Sri Lanka v South Africa at Galle, Jul 16-20, 2014 Test No. 2129

Dean Elgar became the first South Africa opener to make a Test hundred in Sri Lanka © AFP

Most Balls Bowled without a Run Being Scored off Him

At Kingsmead in 1956-57, off spinner Hugh Tayfield bowled 137 consecutive deliveries without a run being scored off him. The South African offspinner ended the first innings of the 3rd Test against England in Durban in 1956-57 with 119 successive dot balls and he finished with figures of 24-17-21-1 and later on he added 18 more in the 2nd innings before finally conceding another run, making a total of 137 dot balls in succession that remains the first-class record. Hugh Tayfield took 8 for 69 in that 2nd innings. Most of Tayfield's dots were delivered to Trevor Bailey who "confronted him, almost regardless of length, with the dead-bat forward stab". Tayfield's record was seriously threatened but not broken in Madras (Currently Chennai) in 1963-64, when the Indian slow left-armer Bapu Nadkarni sent down 131 successive dot balls during the course of his extraordinary analysis of 32-27-5-0 in the first Test against England.

Hugh Tayfield of South Africa bowls against Surrey at The Oval, London, 18th July 1955

Defeat mere by 1 Run

South Africa's slight victory in Sharjah was the 27th occasion that a side had won an ODI by one run. It was the 3rd time it had happened to Pakistan, where they were on the wrong end of the first such result, against New Zealand in Sialkot in October 1976, and also in the most recent previous instance losing to West Indies in Bridgetown in May 2011. In between, Pakistan also managed to win one by a single run against West Indies in Sharjah in October 1991. Champions of the one-run finishes are Australia, who had won five ODIs by that slender margin; India, New Zealand and South Africa have all won four.

Highest partnership in a one-day international defeat

The highest partnership in a defeat cause in an ODI is 235, for South Africa's first wicket, by Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs against India in Kochi in March 2000. That highest opening stand lifted South Africa to 301, but India overhauled that with two balls to spare. There have been 10 more stands of 200 Runs or more which weren't enough to bring victory in an ODI, five of them against India.