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1st Test match between Australia and South Africa got wrapped up inside just 2 days of play (17th &18th Dec). Only 144.2 overs were bowled in the first Test match between Australia and South Africa. Speaking about the match, South Africa got bundled out for just 152 runs in their 1st innings and Australia ended day-1 with a score of 145/5.
On next day of this Test, Australia ended up taking a 1st innings lead of 66 runs against the South African side and bundled out the Proteas team for just 99 runs. Australia chased down 34 runs in 4th innings of the game with 6 wickets in hand.
Is this game between AUS & SA the shortest match ever in Test history? We will find out the answer for that question in this article.
List of Test matches which ended inside a span of just two days since 1950:
ENG vs WI in Leeds, 2000
PAK vs AUS in Sharjah, 2002
SA vs ZIM in Cape Town, 2005
ZIM vs NZ in Harare, 2005
SA vs ZIM in St George Park, 2017
IND vs AFG in Bengaluru, 2018
IND vs ENG in Ahmedabad, 2021
AFG vs ZIM in Abu Dhabi, 2021
AUS vs SA in Brisbane, 2022
Shortest Test matches by number of balls bowled in all four innings:
AUS vs SA in Melbourne, 1932 (656b)
WI vs ENG in Bridgetown, 1935 (672b)
ENG vs AUS in Manchester, 1888 (788b)
ENG vs AUS in Lords, 1888 (792b)
SA vs ENG in Cape Town, 1889 (796b)
ENG vs SA in The Oval, 1912 (815b)
IND vs ENG in Ahmedabad, 2021 (842b)
AUS vs SA in Brisbane, 2022 (866b)
Thus, today's Test is the 2nd shortest Test match by balls bowled since 1936.
Note: Match results which ended in draw weren't counted as those instances happened due to poor weather conditions like rain.