South Africa won the Test series against Australia, and despite losing the final Test it proved to be an historic tour for Faf Du Plessis and his team. We look at some highs and lows from the tour.
*South Africa’s series victory here allows them join an exclusive club on only two other nations that have completed a hat trick of series wins here in Australia. Only the England teams from 1884/5 through to 1888 and the West Indies legends, who held the Frank Warrell Trophy from 1983/84 to 1992/93, have achieved this prestigious distinction.
*Prior to the pink ball Test at the Adelaide Oval, Quinton de Kock had scores of 122, 99, 84, 64 and 104 in all innings on this Australian tour. “It certainly makes up for my poor World Cup down here last time,” the young wicket-keeper quipped after the Hobart series victory.
*When South Africa cleaned up Australia for just 85 in only 558 balls in the first innings of the Hobart Test, it was the fourth lowest amount of balls faced in a Test at home ever. The previous three were in the 19th and early 20th centuries when pitches were still uncovered.
*Hobart hero Kyle Abbott was rewarded for his heroics at the Bellerive Oval with selection for the day-nighter here. It was the first time in his nine-Test career that the 29-year-old had played successive Test matches.
* Temba Bavuma’s sensational run out at the WACA transformed him into an overnight social media hero here in Australia. The little man from Langa quickly became a big man Down Under.
* The Australian victory at the Adelaide Oval broke a run of seven consecutive Test defeats. It was perilously close to their record nine Tests without victory, their worst run since Kim Hughes's team side in 1984.
* The “Lollygate” dramas surrounding Proteas captain Faf du Plessis threatened to derail the Proteas’ achievements, especially after team security chief Zunaid Wadee became the most familiar man in Australia after the Adelaide airport fracas with a Channel 9 reporter.
* The pink ball Test was South Africa's maiden experiment under floodlights after the Australia and New Zealand trialed it last year, while Pakistan and West Indies also did battle under lights in the UAE recently.