By the numbers: SA 2-0 New Zealand

Cricket365
January 14, 2013

South Africa, the world's number one Test side, completed an emphatic series victory over a hapless New Zealand, ranked at eight, and the numbers do not make for pleasant reading for the Black Caps.

South Africa, the world's number one Test side, completed an emphatic series victory over a hapless New Zealand, ranked at eight, and the numbers do not make for pleasant reading for the Black Caps, unless you're BJ Watling or Dean Brownlie.

872-16 vs 675-40: Runs and wickets for South Africa compared to New Zealand. Over the course of two Tests, South Africa only batted twice, while the Kiwis were all out in all four innings they played. The fact that they got over 600 runs is thanks to their relative resilience in their second knocks, considering they were all out for 45 in Cape Town and then again for 121 in PE.

249.1 vs 252.5 – Overs batted by SA vs NZ. Taking into account that it was a series of two long innings versus four short ones, the overs the batsmen faced were similar. The Kiwis toiled though, for 95 and then 153 overs, while the Proteas got short, sharp bursts of action for 19, 102, 44 and 86 overs.

3: Robin Peterson dismissed McCullum. Before the series began, Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum labelled the Proteas spinner as 'innocuous'. It was therefore rather amusing that Peterson got rid of McCullum three times out of four innings, with the batsman looking disgusted with himself each time.

111.25: Faf's average after this series. Faf du Plessis has now batted in six Test innings, and scored two centuries and two fifties. His average is obviously going to drop, but he has yet to be out in single figures. His average for this series was 76.

131- Best partnership. Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar, the two new boys in the Proteas middle order, both scored centuries in the South African innings at St George's Park, with Elgar recording his maiden Test ton in his second Test. This stand saw them bat together for 38.5 overs.

517 – Minutes batted by Watling. He spent 211 minutes in the middle for his 42 in the second innings in Cape Town alone. His knocks in PE both went over the 100-minute mark as he battled in vain to restore some pride to the line-up.

9 vs 5: Scores over 50. Four of the five scored over 50 the visitors racked up went to Watling and Brownlie. Watling made two half tons in PE, while Brownlie spread out his fortunes and made the only century to grace the Kiwi score books, before adding a fifty in the second Test. The Proteas scored three centuries at St George's, and one in Cape Town, thanks to Alviro Petersen.

13: Dale Steyn's wickets. The world's number one bowler was by far the leading wicket-taker, bagging eight in PE alone. He was the only man to reach double figures, and the next best tally was seven, by Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel.

4: Boult and Bracewell's wickets each. The Kiwi pacemen took four scalps each in the series, and they were their side's leading wicket-takers. Jeetan Patel fared the worst, with just one wicket in his 53 overs.

6-3-7-5: Philander's figures. The fiery pace bowler demolished the visiting batsmen and made sure they began their tour on a very low note. All this was achieved before lunch on day one in Cape Town, and he went on to take two more wickets in the next innings. He missed the second Test with a hamstring injury.

16 – Completed sessions out of 30. The first Test finished before tea on day three, while the second scraped into day four but was over well before lunch. Lots of time off for the players, as the South Africans retired to the beach.

46: Ranking points difference. Only Bangladesh are below the Black Caps on the Test rankings, though the Tigers have played half the amount of Tests this season. South Africa, meanwhile, lead England by six points.