600-plus double sets new heights

0 Instances, before this game, of both teams getting 600-plus totals in the first innings of a Test in South Africa. In fact, there has been only one other instance of both teams getting 500-plus: ten years ago at the same venue, New Zealand declared at 583 for 8, and South Africa replied with 512. Had South Africa scored three more runs before declaring, this would have been only the fourth instance of a team taking the first-innings lead when chasing a 600-plus total: it has happened in the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test in 2009, Sri Lanka-India in 2010, and West Indies-England in 2009.

627/7 South Africa's total, their fifth highest in any Test innings, their third best against England, and their best against England at home. The 211 overs they played is also the fifth highest for them in any Test innings.

97.84 The average runs per wicket in this Test so far, the fifth highest in Test history, and the highest by far in South Africa.

477 Balls faced by Hashim Amla for his 201, the third highest in any Test innings in South Africa. The only higher ones are 642, by Gary Kirsten against England in Durban in 1999, and Michael Atherton's 492-ball unbeaten 185 in Johannesburg in 1995. Both those knocks came in the team's second innings, and helped save the game from tough positions.

0 Instances of South African captains playing a longer innings - in terms of balls faced - than Amla's Cape Town effort. His 477 balls is comfortably higher than the previous record of 388, by Graeme Smith against Pakistan in Dubai in 2013. The top 11 instances of most deliveries played by a South African captain are all by either Smith (8) or Amla (3). Amla's 201 is also the seventh double-century by a South African captain in Tests.

3 Number of times Amla has faced 450-plus deliveries in a Test innings. It has only been done nine times by all South African batsmen, with Gary Kirsten being the other player to achieve this three times.

50 The difference between Amla's aggregate in 12 Test innings in 2015, and his score in his first innings of 2016. He totaled 251 at an average of 22.81 last year, an aggregate he threatened to surpass in just one innings in Cape Town.

4 Double-centuries for Amla in Tests; among South Africans, only Smith, with five, has more.

14 Instances of three century partnerships in an innings for South Africa in Tests. They didn't have a single such partnership in all of 2015, but in their first innings of the new year they've had three, with Amla-AB de Villiers, Amla-Faf du Plessis, and Temba Bavuma-Chris Morris all putting together century stands. The last such instance was in the Boxing Day Test of 2013 against India in Durban.

167 The partnership between Bavuma and Morris, South Africa's third highest for the seventh wicket in all Tests, and their best against England.

7 Bowlers who have conceded 100 or more runs in the first two innings of this Test - this has never happened before in a Test in South Africa. The previous highest was five. In fact, there have only been 14 instances ever of seven or more bowlers conceding 100-plus runs in the first two innings of a Test match; the previous such instance was the Perth Test last year between Australia and New Zealand.

18 Instances of five or more 50-plus scores for South Africa in a Test innings. Excluding the openers, though, there have been only three such instances: the previous one was in 1966, against Australia.

9 Instances of England bowling 200-plus overs without a single no-ball in a Test innings. The last such instance was in 1987 at The Oval against Pakistan, which is also the last time they bowled more overs than the 211 they did in South Africa's first innings at Newlands.