Stats: South Africa register lowest Test total since readmission

It took less than three days for Sri Lanka to comprehensively beat South Africa and take a 1-0 lead in the Test series. They did so, after winning the first Test at Galle by 278 runs.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts posted 287 on the back of an unbeaten 158 from opener Dimuth Karunaratne. In reply, South Africa were bowled out for just 126 as no visiting batsman got a fifty. Although Sri Lanka were bundled out for 190 in their second innings, their lead had already gone over 350 and the visitors needed 352 for an improbable victory with plenty of time in hand.

Instead, the Proteas were bowled out for 73 and succumbed to a 278-run defeat as Dilruwan Perera ran through their batting line-up and finished with figures of 6/32 in the second innings.

Here are some interesting statistical highlights from the first Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa:

0 - No South African bowler has taken more wickets than Dale Steyn. He now has 421 wickets, level with Shaun Pollock and jointly holds the record for most wickets in Tests for South Africa.

1 - Kagiso Rabada is now the youngest bowler to take 150 Test wickets. He got there at 23 years and 50 days, beating the previous record held by Harbhajan Singh, who got to the milestone at 23 years and 106 days.

1 - This is the first time in Test history that Sri Lanka have taken 20 wickets in a Test for less than 200 runs. South Africa bowled out for 126 and 73.

2 - South Africa's 73 is the second-lowest Test total by any team against Sri Lanka. The lowest is Bangladesh's 62 at Colombo in 2007.

3 - South Africa's second innings total of 73 is the joint-third lowest Test total for any team in Sri Lanka. Bangladesh's 62 is the lowest while Sri Lanka's tally of 71 against Pakistan in Kandy at 1994 is the second-lowest. This is the joint-third lowest along with the 73 Sri Lanka managed against Pakistan at Kandy in 2006.

4 - Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera opened the bowling in both innings of the first Test. In the process, they became only the fourth pair of spinners to open the bowling in each innings of a Test. H Trumble/ M Noble were the first to do it in 1902. Since then it has happened only thrice, including this time at Galle.

4 - Suranga Lakmal became only the fourth Sri Lankan captain after Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Rangana Herath to win their first two Tests as captain.

6 - South Africa's Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar were stumped in the second innings. This was only the sixth time in Test history that both openers were out stumped in an innings. The first time was in 1881/82.

7 - South Africa's 73 is the joint-seventh lowest Test total by any team in a Test match in Asia. The record for the lowest Test total in Asia belongs to West Indies, who managed just 53 against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1986.

10 - Although this is South Africa's lowest Test total since re-admission. Overall, this is their tenth-lowest total in Test history. Their lowest is 30, which they managed twice. Both of them were against England but one was in Port Elizabeth in 1896 and the other was in Birmingham in 1924.

73 - South Africa were bowled out for 73 in the second innings at Galle. That is now their lowest total in Tests since their re-admission. The previous record was their 79 against India at Nagpur in 2015.