The long-awaited Test series between South Africa and England gets underway on Wednesday at SuperSport Park in Centurion – a place that Andrew Strauss’ men will have become very familiar with over the past few months.
The 23,000 capacity stadium is located about 30 miles north of Johannesburg and has hosted England four times since late September this year. Their fortunes at the picturesque ground have been mixed to say the least.
Twice England played at Centurion during the ICC Champions Trophy – once beating hosts South Africa thanks to a sterling batting effort by Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan; and once losing against Australia, the eventual winners, by nine wickets in the semi-finals.
Since then, England have been obliterated by Loots Bosman and Graeme Smith as South Africa ran out 84-run winners in the second Twenty20 international earlier in the tour. But England triumphed in their most recent outing at SuperSport Park in November when an 87 from Jonathan Trott and an unbeaten Collingwood century saw them to a seven-wicket, and series sealing, win.
The venue itself does not have much of a history when it comes to Test cricket, with the first match taking place in 1995 – coincidentally between South Africa and England. But the South Africans have managed to garner a formidable record at the Gauteng Province stadium, winning an impressive 11 times in 14 outings with just one defeat.
That defeat came in controversial circumstances indeed, when England infamously beat the hosts in 2000. After days two, three and four were washed out, South Africa captain Hansie Cronje struck a deal with England skipper Nasser Hussain for both teams to each forfeit an innings to make a result possible, with England subsequently needing to score 249 to win. England scored the runs required with little time left on the fifth day, and it was revealed some months later that Cronje had been approached by an illegal bookmaker to make sure that the match ended with a positive outcome.
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