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1st Test, Sri Lanka v England, Statistical Highlights

It was the 1530th Test match in cricket history

Rajneesh Gupta
01-Mar-2001
  • It was the 1530th Test match in cricket history.
  • It was Sri Lanka's 109th and England's 777th Test.
  • It was the seventh Test between these two sides. Both teams have won three matches each, while one match has been drawn.
  • It was the 49th Test on Sri Lankan soil and third between these two teams. Sri Lanka has won two while England has won one.
  • Umpires KT Francis and AV Jayaprakash were officiating in their 26th and eight match respectively.
  • Marvan Atapattu (201*) scored his fourth double hundred in his 42nd Test. His other double centuries are 223 v Zimbabwe at Kandy in 1997-98, 216* v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo QC and 207* v Pakistan at Kandy in 1999-00. Interestingly Atapattu started his Test career with three ducks in a row and aggregated only one run in first six innings. He now has the most double hundreds to his credit among the contemporary players.
  • Atapattu now equals the tally of England's Len Hutton, Australia's Greg Chappell, India's Sunil Gavaskar, West Indies' Gordon Greenidge and Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas. Now only Australia's Don Bradman (12), England's Wally Hammond (7) and Pakistan's Javed Miandad (6) have scored more double hundreds in a career.
  • It was the tenth double hundred for Sri Lanka - second against England after Sanath Jayasuriya's 213 at The Oval in 1998. The previous highest individual score for Sri Lanka against England at home soil was Hashan Tillakaratne's 93* at Colombo SSC in 1992-93.
  • Aravinda de Silva has now aggregated 445 runs in six Tests against England which makes him the Sri Lankan with most runs in a career against England. The previous record was on the name of Arjuna Ranatunga who had made 373 runs in five Tests.
  • Sri Lanka's total (470-5 decl) is its highest against England at home. This obliterates the previous highest of 469 at Colombo SSC in 1992-93.
  • Mark Trescothick (122) made his maiden hundred in his seventh Test. His previous highest was 78 at The Oval in 2000.
  • The first innings partnership of 83 runs between Mike Atherton and Marcus Trescothick was England's best for the opening wicket against Sri Lanka - home or away. This obliterated the previous record stand of 78 between Graham Gooch and Hugh Morris at Lord's in 1991. However Atherton and Trescothick by adding 101 runs in the second innings bettered their own record.
  • Alec Stewart on 14 in second innings completed 7000 runs in his 106th Test and 191st innings. He became seventh Englishman and 19th batsman in all to do so. Stewart now holds the dubious record of taking most matches for England to accomplish this feat. Mike Atherton with 103 Tests (and 188 innings) was the previous record holder. Just for the record, Australia's Steve Waugh has taken most Tests to aggregate his 7000 runs. He did so in his 110th Test. However Stewart now is the slowest in terms of innings. West Indian Desmond Haynes had taken 110 innings for his 7000 runs.
  • Trescothick top scored in both the innings for England. He presented the 57th such instance for England. He also became first Englishman and only the fourth batsman in all to do so against Sri Lanka after Australia's Ricky Ponting (96 + 51) at Kandy in 1999-00, Zimbabwean Andy Flower (74 + 129) at Harare in 1999-00 and Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq (86 + 138) at Karachi in 1999-00.
  • Sanath Jayasuriya's first innings figures (4-50) were the best for Sri Lanka in an innings against England at home soil putting in to shade Asantha DeMel's 4 for 70 at Colombo PSS in 1981-82. Jayasuriya, however, improved upon his first innings performance when he captured 4 for 44 in the second innings.
  • Jayasuriya's match figures of 8 for 94 are the best by a Sri Lankan captain. The previous best was also on the name of Jayasuriya. He had taken four for 47 against Zimbabwe at Harare in 1999-00.
  • Jayasuriya enforced follow-on on England. This was the 231st occasion that this has been done - fifth time by Sri Lanka. Ironically it is England which has enforced the follow-on on most occasions - 84 times to be exact, followed by Australia (57), West Indies (28), India (20), Pakistan (13), South Africa (13), New Zealand (9) and Zimbabwe (2). It also was the first instance of a Sri Lankan captain imposing the follow-on on England.
  • Sri Lanka's win by an innings and 28 runs provided the 245th instance of an innings win in Test cricket. It also was the fourth such instance for Sri Lanka. The others being by an innings and 77 runs v Zimbabwe at Colombo RPS in 1996-97,by an innings and 16 runs v New Zealand at Galle in 1997-98 and by an innings and 15 runs v South Africa also at Galle in 2000-01.
  • The defeat was England's 42nd by an innings margin. The break-up: 17 times v Australia, 15 times v West Indies, thrice v India, thrice v South Africa, twice v Pakistan, once v New Zealand and once v Sri Lanka.
  • It was also the 46th occasion when England was made to follow-on in a Test. The break-up: 23 times by Australia, 10 times by West Indies, four times by India and South Africa each, thrice by Pakistan and once by New Zealand and Sri Lanka each.
  • Sri Lanka has now won three matches out of the five it has played at Galle. Amazingly all the three wins have been by innings margin.