Proteas captain Faf du Plessis’ wretched run out in the middle before match’s get underway is bad but still short of the South African record for most consecutive Test match tosses lost.

Du Plessis is on a run of six toss losses in a row – statisticians suggest the chance of that occurring is just one in 64 – but the South African batsman is off the Test record for the Proteas.

He joins a group of four previous captains with six Test losses in a row out in the middle: PW Sherwell (1906-10),  JE Cheetham (1954-55), Hansie Cronje (1999-00) and Shaun Pollock (2001-02).

The record stands at 8 and belongs to opener Graeme Smith, who went on a consecutive toss run in the 2008-09 season.

The world record belongs to former England batsman and current commentator, Nasser Hussain, who lost an incredible 10 tosses in a row at the turn of the century.