Kingsmead pitch report: Test, ODI and T20I records and stats in Durban

Kingsmead in Durban is South Africa’s seaside Test ground and lately a ground where the side batting first has had things its own way. Of the ten men’s Tests played there since 2010, the team that batted first won seven and lost only two. Australia did it again this week, batting first after winning the toss and beating South Africa by 214 runs on 13 October 2026.

This page covers the ground’s full men’s international record in all three formats: the pitch report the numbers actually support, the headline Test, ODI and T20I records, and India’s history at the venue. Figures are from ESPNcricinfo’s Statsguru and run to the end of the first South Africa v Australia Test in October 2026.

Kingsmead at a glance

Location	Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
First Test	South Africa v England, 18 January 1923
Men’s Tests	47 (latest: South Africa v Australia, 9-13 October 2026)
Men’s ODIs	48 played, plus one abandoned (first: 17 December 1992; latest: 24 September 2026)
Men’s T20Is	20 played, plus two abandoned (first: 12 September 2007; latest: 10 December 2024)
South Africa’s Test record here	Won 16, lost 17, drawn 14

Kingsmead pitch report: what the record says

Kingsmead sits close to the Indian Ocean, and its reputation is as a seamer’s ground. The scores do not quite bear out the idea of a minefield. Across all 47 Tests the first-innings total has averaged 300.6, and across the ten since 2010 it is 297.7, so the par has barely moved in a century.

What has moved is who wins. All-time, the side batting first has won 20 Tests, the side batting second 13, and 14 have been drawn. Since 2010 it is seven wins to two for the side batting first, with one draw. The toss follows the same line: in those ten Tests, captains who won it and chose to bowl lost four of five, while those who chose to bat won three, lost one and drew one. Pat Cummins won the toss and batted in October 2026, and Australia went from 124 for 6 on the first day to a 214-run win.

The ODI pattern points the same way. Of 41 completed ODIs with a winner, the side batting first has won 23. A first-innings score of 280 or more has been made 11 times and defended ten times. The one exception is the ground’s biggest chase: South Africa’s 372 for 6 against Australia in October 2016, still Kingsmead’s highest ODI total.

T20Is are closer to even. Of 18 completed with a winner, ten went to the side batting first and eight to the chase. Scoring has climbed sharply, though. The average completed first innings is 167.7 across all 18, and 194.8 across the six T20Is played since 2020, four of which were won by the side batting first.

Kingsmead Test records

Record	Figure	Holder	Date
Highest total	658/9 dec	South Africa v West Indies	December 2003
Lowest total	42	Sri Lanka v South Africa	November 2024
Highest individual score	275	Gary Kirsten (SA) v England	December 1999
Best bowling (innings)	8/69	Hugh Tayfield (SA) v England	January 1957
Best bowling (match)	13/173	Clarrie Grimmett (Aus) v South Africa	February-March 1936
Most runs	1,266	Jacques Kallis (SA), 16 Tests	1995-2013
Most wickets	50	Dale Steyn (SA), 10 Tests	2004-2019
Highest successful chase	340/5	South Africa v Australia	March 2002

The lowest total is recent. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 42 in November 2024, with Marco Jansen taking 7 for 13, and he finished the match with 11 for 86. That replaced Bangladesh’s 53 from 2022, when Keshav Maharaj took 7 for 32, as the smallest Test total at the ground.

Gary Kirsten’s 275 against England in 1999 came in the follow-on and saved the match. Graeme Pollock’s 274 against Australia in 1970 is one run behind it. Matt Renshaw’s 190 in October 2026 is now fifth on the list and the highest Test score at Kingsmead by an Australian.

Dale Steyn leads the wicket-takers with 50 in ten Tests, ahead of Shaun Pollock’s 44 and Makhaya Ntini’s 43. Steyn took four five-wicket hauls here.

South Africa and Australia at Kingsmead

South Africa’s home record at the ground is losing, at 16 wins to 17 defeats. That makes Kingsmead the exception among the country’s five main Test venues. South Africa have won more Tests than they have lost at Newlands, Centurion, the Wanderers and St George’s Park, and at Centurion the margin is 24 to three.

Australia have done much of the damage. They have played 12 Tests at Kingsmead and won seven, drawn two and lost three, and they have won the last four: in 2006, 2009, 2018 and 2026. The October 2026 Test was settled by Renshaw’s 190 and 82 and by Josh Hazlewood’s 6 for 49 on the final day, when South Africa lost their last four wickets for five runs. Read our report on Australia’s 214-run win. The series moves to St George’s Park in Gqeberha on 18 October.

Kingsmead ODI records

Record	Figure	Holder	Date
Highest total	372/6	South Africa v Australia	5 October 2016
Lowest total	91	India v South Africa	22 November 2006
Highest individual score	128	Brian Lara (WI) v Pakistan	19 February 1993
Best bowling	6/23	Ashish Nehra (Ind) v England	26 February 2003
Most runs	773	Jacques Kallis, 24 innings	–
Most wickets	24	Shaun Pollock, 21 matches	–

The 2016 ODI produced the ground’s two highest totals in one evening: Australia made 371 for 6 and South Africa chased it down for the loss of six wickets. Kingsmead’s one tied ODI came at the 2003 World Cup, when South Africa and Sri Lanka finished level under the rain rules and the hosts went out of their own tournament.

The most recent ODI was on 24 September 2026, when South Africa made 297 for 8 and beat Australia by 67 runs. Our report covers Australia’s collapse that day.

Kingsmead T20I records

Record	Figure	Holder	Date
Highest total	226/6	Australia v South Africa	30 August 2023
Lowest total	73	Kenya v New Zealand	12 September 2007
Highest individual score	114*	Morne van Wyk (SA) v West Indies	14 January 2015
Best bowling	5/23	David Wiese (SA) v West Indies	14 January 2015
Highest successful chase	191/5	Australia v South Africa	3 September 2023
Most runs	221	Mitchell Marsh (Aus), 4 innings	–
Most wickets	9	David Wiese (SA), 3 matches	–

Australia’s 2023 visit rewrote this table. They won all three T20Is played here that summer, made the ground’s highest total in the first and its highest successful chase in the third, and Mitchell Marsh made 92 not out and 79 not out in the first two. South Africa’s T20I record at the ground is six wins and seven defeats, and only one of those wins has come against Australia in five meetings.

India at Kingsmead

For Indian fans, Kingsmead is where the 2007 World T20 title run began. India played five of their matches there and did not lose one: a washout against Scotland, the tie with Pakistan settled by a bowl-out, and wins over England, South Africa and, in the semi-final, Australia. The England game on 19 September 2007 was the night Yuvraj Singh hit Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, and India’s 218 for 4 stood as the ground’s highest T20I total until Australia passed it in 2023.

Format	Played	Won	Lost	Other
Tests	5	1	3	1 draw
ODIs	10	3	6	1 no result
T20Is	6	4	0	1 tie, 1 no result

India’s T20I record here is still unbeaten. Their most recent visit, on 8 November 2024, brought Sanju Samson’s 107 from 50 balls and a 61-run win, and a December 2023 T20I was abandoned without a ball bowled. The Test and ODI record is harder reading: India have won one Test in five at the ground, in December 2010, and their 91 all out in 2006 remains the lowest ODI total there.

Kingsmead FAQs

Is Kingsmead a batting or bowling pitch?

It has a seamer’s reputation, but first-innings Test scores have averaged about 300 for a century. The stronger trend is that batting first wins: seven of the nine Tests with a result since 2010.

What is the highest Test score at Kingsmead?

South Africa’s 658 for 9 declared against West Indies in December 2003 is the highest team total. Gary Kirsten’s 275 against England in 1999 is the highest individual score.

What is the lowest Test total at Kingsmead?

Sri Lanka’s 42 against South Africa in November 2024.

For other grounds on the circuit, see our Newlands Test records and Wanderers Test records.

More from our cricket desk

Photo credit: Imago