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3Cape Town - The Proteas may not be favourites, but a look at their recent Test record in England bodes well ahead of a four-match series that gets underway at Lord's on Thursday.
Since re-admission, South Africa have played FIVE Test series in England.
Of those, they have won two, lost one and drawn two - not a bad record considering that England is known as one of the toughest places to tour.
The Proteas won a three-match series 1-0 in 2012 to claim the number one ranking in the world while they emerged as 2-1 victors in the 2008 four-match series. Both of those series wins came under the captaincy of Graeme Smith.
The only series loss the Proteas have had in England since re-admission came in 1998 under Hansie Cronje when they went down 2-1 in a five-match series.
Remarkably, South Africa have not lost at Lord's in any of those series.
Their record at the 'Home of Cricket' since 1994 stands at played five, won four and drawn one. In all of those matches, a batsman has scored a century.
In 1994 Kepler Wessels made 105 in a winning cause, in 1998 Jonty Rhodes played a match-winning knock, in 2003 Graeme Smith made his famous 259 while Gary Kirsten also chipped in with a hundred, in 2008 Neil McKenzie's resilient 138 off 447 balls helped rescue a draw and in 2012 Hashim Amla carded 121 as the Proteas made it four out of five at the venue.
Of the players in the current Proteas squad, only Amla, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander were on the 2012 tour.
SA's record in England since 1992:
1994: England 1-1 SA (3-match series)
1998: England 2-1 SA (5-match series)
2003: England 2-2 SA (5-match series)
2008: England 1-2 SA (4-match series)
2012: England 0-2 SA (3-match series)
SA's record at Lord's since 1992:
1994: SA won by 356 runs
1998: SA won by 10 wickets
2003: SA won by an innings and 92 runs
2008: Match drawn
2012: SA won by 51 runs
