Markram's brilliant beginning
Aiden Markram has had a sensational start to his Test career, having scored 380 runs from his first four innings. No other South Africa batsman has ever aggregated that many runs from his first four Test outings. In fact, overall only four batsmen have had higher aggregates at that point of career. Javed Miandad leads the chart with 419 runs from his first four innings. The previous most any South Africa batsman had scored at that mark was Jacques Rudolf with 311 runs.
Markram began his career with scores of 97, 15 and 143 in three innings against Bangladesh before scoring another 125 against Zimbabwe in this Test. He averages 95 after four innings. He is also the first South Africa player to score two centuries in his first three Tests. South Africa's openers have struck seven centuries this year, the most amongst all teams.
Nine wickets tumble in 23 overs
After electing to bat first and being in a good position in the first ever day/night four-day Test, South Africa collapsed from 272 for 4 to 309 for 9. They lost five wickets for seven runs in just seven overs. The last time they lost the fifth to ninth wicket in a span of seven overs or less was against Australia in Cape Town in 2011-12.
The first 71.3 overs of play in Port Elizabeth had seen 270 runs for loss of just four wickets. But in the next 23 overs of the day, nine wickets fell for 67 runs, with Zimbabwe tottering on 30 for 4 after 16 overs of their innings.