It was the 1610th ODI in the cricket history.It was Sri Lanka's 328th and South Africa's 200th ODI match.It was the 18th meeting between these two sides.The record now
reads : Sri Lanka 8, South Africa 9, no result 1.Umpires BC Cooray and TH Wijewardene were officiating in
their 45th and second match respectively.Marvan Atapattu was playing his 100th match. He became 11th
Sri Lankan and 104th player overall to do so.Mahela Jayawerdene was playing his 50th match.He became
23rd Sri Lankan and 222nd player to do so.Jacques Kallis innings (83*) is the highest for South Africa
against Sri Lanka on Sri Lankan soil. This obliterates Andrew Hall's
81 which was made in the opening encounter of this series at Galle
on 06-07-2000.Upul Chandana's figures (10-1-20-2, rpo 2.00) are the second
most economical by a Sri Lankan bowler in a match against South
Africa.The best, however still remains Chandika Hathurusinghe's
10-2-18-2 rpo 1.80 at Colombo RP on 04-09-1993.South Africa's total (167) is its second lowest against Sri
Lanka.The lowest, however, still remains as 154 at Colombo RP on 04-
09-1993.Marvan Atapattu,on 21, completed his 1000 runs in matches on
Sri Lankan soil. He became fifth batsman to do so after Aravinda
de Silva (2224 runs in 62 matches), Arjuna Ranatunga (1908 in 68),
Sanath Jayasuriya (1565 in 56) and Roshan Mahanama (1236 in 49).
Atapattu, at the end of this match, has a tally of 1023 runs from 26
matches.The second wicket stand of 129 rund between Avishka Gunawerdene and
Marvan Atapattu is Sri Lanka's best for this wicket against South
Africa. This obliterates the previous record stand of 46 between
Roshan Mahanama and Hassan Tillekeratne at Colombo RP on 04-09-1993.Avishka Gunawerdene's innings (87) is the second highest for
Sri Lanka against South Africa after Arjuna Ranatunga's 93* at
Port Elizabeth on 13-04-1998.Gunawerdene hit as many as 16 fours in his innings-second most
by a Sri Lankan batsman in ODIs.The record for Sri Lanka,however,is
held jointly by Romesh Kaluwitharana (v Kenya,Nairobi Gym,28-09-
1996) and Sanath Jayasuriya (v India,Mumbai,17-05-1997). Gunawerdene became only fifth batsman in ODI history to hit
15 or more fours in an innings without reaching to three figures
mark. He, infact, now holds the record of hitting maximum fours in an
innings without completing his century. England's Chris Smith (v
NewZealand, Wellington, 22-02-1984), India's Sachin Tendulkar (v New
Zealand, Auckland, 27-031994), Pakistan's Ijaz Ahmed (v South Africa,
Nairobi Gym, 29-09-1996) and New Zealand's Craig Spearman (v India,
Rajkot, 05-11-1999) hit 15 fours each in their innings.Sri Lanka won the match with 135 balls to spareits biggest win in
terms of balls Sri Lanka had earlier achieved the winning target
against West Indies at Sharjah on 17-10-1999 with 132 balls to
spare.At the other end of the scale,South Africa suffered its fourth
worst defeat in terms of balls spared by opponents while achieving
the target. South Africa's worst ever defeat came against India when
Indian romped home with 164 balls to spare at Nairobi Gymkhana on
26-09-1999. Australians had beaten them at Cape Town on 14-04-2000
with 153 balls to spare and West Indians won with 145 balls yet to
be bowled at Port-of-Spain on 11-04-1992.The win (by 8 wickets) was Sri Lanka's largest by wickets
against South Africa.Sri Lanka had earlier beaten South Africa at
Port Elizabeth on 13-04-1998 by 6 wickets.Gunawerdene won his maiden Man of the Match award. 