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The Cullinan diamond

South Africa went into this Test match without Allan Donald for the first time in 18 matches, since the Adelaide Test against Australia in February, 1998. Interestingly, his replacement, Steve Elworthy, captured 8 wickets and was also declared as the man of the match.

The fifth wicket partnership of 145 between Gary Stead and Chris Harris in New Zealand's first innings was its third highest against South Africa in Tests. However it was the highest for New Zealand at home against South Africa. The previous best was 82 between Ken Rutherford and Adam Parore at Auckland in 1994-95.

Shaun Pollock's 5-33 in the first innings was South Africa's second best at this venue. Shaun's father Peter has the best figures, of 6-47 during the 1963-64 series.

It was Pollock's ninth five-wicket haul in 33 Tests. His last four wickets came in 20 balls conceding just one run.

Daryll Cullinan during his innings of 152 (on 45) reached his 3000th run in Tests. It was his 48th Test and 79th innings. He becomes the fourth South African and the 104th batsman in Test history to reach the milestone.

It was Cullinan's eighth Test hundred, which puts him on par with fellow South African Bruce Mitchell. Now only Gary Kirsten and Dudley Nourse Jr, with nine hundreds, have scored more.

In the last eight Test matches, six South African batsmen have scored 11 hundreds (including four scores of over 150, with two double hundreds). During this same period, not a single hundred has been scored against South Africa -- the being the 93 by New Zealand's Matthew Horne in the first Test of this series at Auckland. Just for the record, the last hundred against South Africa came from England's Mark Butcher who scored 116 in the final Test at Leeds in August 1998.

The fourth wicket partnership of 145 between Cullinan and Hansie Cronje was South Africa' s best against New Zealand. It betters the previous best of 135 between Ken Funston and Roy McLean at Durban during the 1953-54 series.

For the first time in his Test career, Jonty Rhodes (in his 44th match) claimed four catches in the match.

In South Africa's second innings, Gary Kirsten in his 53rd match and 95th innings became the highest scorer for his country when he surpassed the previous record held by Bruce Mitchell, who had scored 3471 runs in 42 matches and 80 innings from 1929 to 1948-49. Mitchell held this record since 1947 (v England at the Oval), when he bettered the then existing South African record of 2936 runs by Herbie Taylor. Just for the record, South African captain Cronje with 3465 runs is just 11 runs behind Kirsten.

Cullinan with 427 runs in the series has an average of 427.00 runs per innings. This is the second best average by any batsman in a series after England's Walter Hammond's huge batting average of 563.00 in the two-match Test series in 1932-33, also against New Zealand. However, Cullinan's average is now the best for any three-match Test series. The previous 3-match Test series record was held by India's Ravi Shastri who averaged 231 runs against Australia in the 1986-87 series. Just for the record, the highest average for a five-match Test series was 201.50 by Don Bradman against South Africa during the 1931-32 series.

Cullinan's 427 runs was the highest series aggregate by a South African against New Zealand. He just betters the previous best by Jackie McGlew who scored 426 runs during the 1961-62 series in South Africa.

Cullinan's 427 runs in the series was the second best series aggregate by a South African batsman since their return to the Test fold in 1992. The best remains 485 runs by Jacques Kallis in the recently concluded 5-match Test series against the West Indies at home. However Cullinan's aggregate is the best by a South African since 1992 in an away series. The previous record was held by Cronje who had scored 401 runs against England in 1998.

Cullinan's aggregate was also the best for South Africa in a three-match Test series. The previous best was Gary Kirsten's 322 runs (avg 53.66) in India in 1996-97.

It was South Africa's third victory in four matches at this venue.

Incidentally South Africa now remains the only country not to have ever lost a Test in New Zealand. Their record in New Zealand now stands as Played 11, Won 5, Drawn 6.

South Africa with 1577 runs (1523 runs off the bat) and losing only 16 wickets in the series averages 98.56 runs per wicket for the duration of the tour.