South Africa maintains astonishing record against New Zealand

With a 198-run victory against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, South Africa‘s men’s cricket team rallied back strongly after losing the first Test to square the two-match series at 1-1. Many may consider this a routine Test victory, yet statistics show that the victory in Christchurch enabled South Africa to retain a record that they will be quite pleased with. It has been exactly 90 years since both test-playing nations had faced off in the game’s longest format. Surprisingly, despite being the current World Test Champions, New Zealand has never won a Test series against South Africa, whether at home or away.

So far, 17 series have been played between the two nations, with the first one taking place in 1932, with South Africa winning 13 and drawing four.

This time, when South Africa arrived in New Zealand for a two-match Test series, Due to their previous bad performances in India and at home against Bangladesh, New Zealand were not viewed as overwhelming favourites.

South Africa had recently won a fantastic Test series at home against India and was feeling confident.

New Zealand, on the other hand, proved the sceptics wrong in the series opener, thrashing South Africa by an innings and 276 runs. The disputed 90-year-old record was on the verge of being smashed.

However, a spirited and courageous effort from the whole South African squad in the second Test enabled them to win the match by 198 runs and even the series, thus ending New Zealand’s chances of winning their first-ever Test series against South Africa.