Review of Tests between England and South Africa-Sep 2022-Part 1

England won the 3-test series 2-1, with all three Tests finishing within 3 days of play. The 3rd Test at the Oval lost the first day due to the weather and the second day to the queen’s demise, but still finished soon after the start of what was the scheduled 5th day. Stokes was the last English captain of the Elizabethan era. Earlier, SA won by an innings in the first Test and England won by an innings in the second Test.

A summary of Tests between these teams:

The upper table is for all tests since the beginning. England leads by a large margin both at home and abroad. This is not surprising as SA was a weak team for many of its earlier Tests, when they only played against England and Australia.

I thought it would be more useful to look at the record after SA returned to Tests in the 1990s. Here, England still leads at home and abroad but with a narrower margin.

We now look at individual performances, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (1200 and above):

As we will see in the later tables, many of the aggregate records are from the pre-1990 period. Thus Kallis has the most runs of the post-1990 batsmen but is fifth overall. Next is GC Smith (6th overall).

Kallis has the most centuries (8), followed by several others with 7.

B Mitchell has the most 50+ scores (23), followed by Hammond and HW Taylor with 20. The most by a recent player is 16 by Kallis.

Highest individual scores (180 and above):

Here, the top few scores are from recent players. None from this low-scoring series.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and 40.00):

GC Smith has the highest average among recent players, followed by Amla. However, the highest averages are by Hammond and Hobbs from the early days.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced and 45.00):

Here Stokes leads by a good margin over de Kock. None of the pre-1990 players are here.

To be continued:

England’s cricket captains in the Elizabethan era

Queen Elizabeth became monarch on 6 February 1952. On that day DB Carr was captaining England for the first time, in the 5th Test vs India at Madras. The second day was declared a rest day due to the death of King George VI. However, there was enough time for India to record their first Test win against any country:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-tour-of-india-1951-52-61800/india-vs-england-5th-test-62729/full-scorecard

This series was drawn 1-1

Over 70 years later, the Queen passed away on 8 September 2022. This was the scheduled first day of the 3rd Test vs South Africa at the Oval. This time the captain was BA Stokes. His team succeeded in winning against South Africa in a little over two days play:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/south-africa-in-england-2022-1276896/england-vs-south-africa-3rd-test-1276918/full-scorecard

A total of 37 players have captained England in Tests during this period of over 70 years.

These are their individual performances for the Tests in which they captained:

There are some 1-Test captains such as DB Carr in the beginning. The most Tests captained are 64 by JE Root, 59 by AN Cook and 54 by MA Atherton.

The most runs were 5295 by JE Root, the most centuries 11 by GA Gooch, the most wickets (77) and most 5-fors (3) by RGD Willis and the most catches were 87 by Root again.

The longest-lived US President and other obscure facts

On October 1, 2021 James Earl Carter Jr (born October 1, 1924) became the first US President to celebrate his 97th birthday. On March 22, 2019 he became the longest-living US President when he crossed the mark set by George Herbert Walker Bush.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter#Longevity

More about George Bush Sr here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_state_funeral_of_George_H._W._Bush

He passed one more landmark on October 17, 2019 when his marriage to Rosalynn became the longest-lasting of Presidential unions. (See update at end). They were married on July 7, 1946. They will cross the record of 73+ years of George Bush Sr (again!) which ended with Barbara’s death on April 17, 2018.

However, Rosalynn Carter (born August 18, 1927) is now 95 and has some time to go before she can overtake Bessie Truman (97, 1885-1982) as the longest-lived First Lady. In the past few years, she overtook others such as “Lady Bird” Johnson (94), Betty Ford (93) and Nancy Reagan (94).

There is, however one Vice-President who has lived longer than any President: John N Garner (98, 1868-1967, VP to Franklin Roosevelt in 1933-41).

Joseph Biden (20 Nov, 1942) is the oldest person to become President surpassing Ronald Reagan’s 73+ at the start of his second term in 1985. Donald Trump (born Jun 14, 1946) was so far the oldest to become President for the first time at 70+, just edging out Reagan’s accession in 1981.

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth II (born April 21, 1926) continues to break longevity records as the longest-lived British monarch (93+) with the longest reign (67+ years). Her consort Prince Philip died about two months before what would have been his 100th birthday.

As pointed out earlier here, Queen Elizabeth’s reign has seen 14 US presidents (Truman to Biden) and 15 British PMs (including Harold Wilson twice). It is likely that she will see the successors of the present incumbents.

Also: “Significant events have included her coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees in 1977, 2002, and 2012, respectively. In 2017, she became the first British monarch to reach a Sapphire Jubilee. Next is the Platinum Jubilee in 2022. She is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch as well as the world’s longest-serving female head of state, oldest living monarch, longest-reigning current monarch, and the oldest and longest-serving current head of state. ”

English cricket fans will remember major Ashes victories at home in the Coronation year (1953) as well as the Silver Jubilee (1977).

Long-lived leaders

With the election of 92-year old Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister of Malaysia, one has to look closely at the records to see if this is some kind of a new achievement. This is what Wikipedia has to say:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_state_leaders_by_age

The first table shows Mahathir as the oldest currently serving leader, at 92 years 308 days as of 22/05/2018. He is followed closely by Queen Elizabeth II (not elected, but still….) at 92/23. She is already the oldest British monarch and the one with the oldest reign (since Feb 6, 1952). It may be noted that her mother lived to be over 101. Prince Philip (96+, born June 1921) is currently the oldest consort of a British monarch. Queen Elizabeth’s mother ceased to be a consort in 1952, when she was 52.

There are a few lesser-known names in the top 10, apart from Emperor Akihito (94+, born Dec 1933). It was announced that he would abdicate in April 2019.

The second table deals with “10 oldest ever serving state leaders”. Prominent names here include Malawi’s Hastings Banda (96+ before being removed), Thailand’s Prem Tinsulanonda (also 96+ and still living), Robert Mugabe (93+ before being removed) and Mahathir at 92+.

The third table deals with the longest lived state leaders. Many lesser known persons here, headed by a PM of Cambodia who lived to be 103+.

The fourth table deals with the oldest state leader who is still living. The leader here is a former PM of Vietnam who is now 101+. Other better-known names here include Japan’s former PM Nakasone (almost 100), Perez de Cuellar (Secretary-General of the UN and later PM of Peru) at 98+ and Thailand’s Tinsulanonda at 97+.

Next it goes to youngest serving leaders (which include Kim Jong-Un at 35+, the King of Bhutan (38+) and Leo Varadkar (39+). Not Justin Trudeau who is 47+.

The youngest leaders at the time they took office are almost all royals, some of whom (like King Fuad of Egypt and King Gyanendra of Nepal) who became rulers when they were less than 5 years old. There is one representative from a family of dictators, “Baby Doc” Duvalier of Haiti who became President at 19+.

No representative from India? You have to search for other criteria. More later.