2nd Test, Sri Lanka v South Africa, Statistical Highlights

It was the 1505th Test in cricket history

05-Aug-2000

It was the 1505th Test in cricket history.

It was Sri Lanka's 104th and South Africa's 244th Test.

It was the seventh Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa.The record now reads: South Africa 4, Sri Lanka 1, drawn 2.

It was the fifth Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa on Sri Lankan soil. The record now reads : South Africa 2, Sri Lanka 1, drawn 2.

Gamini Silva was making his debut as a Test umpire. He became 16th Sri Lankan to officiate in a Test. For other umpire Daryll Harper it was his eighth match.

Gary Kirsten was playing his 62nd Test. He is now at par with Allan Donald. Only Hansie Cronje has now appeared in more Tests for South Africa (68).

Gary Kirsten and Neil McKenzie were dismissed without scoring in first innings. This provided the second instance of both opening batsmen being dismissed without scoring in the same innings for South Africa.The only other South African pair to do so was Jackie McGlew and Trevor Goddard against England at Lord's in 1955.

The wicket of Jacques Kallis in the first innings was the 50th for Muralitharan against South Africa. He became the first Sri Lankan and the 12th bowler overall to do so. Only Australia's Shane Warne (64 wickets in 12 Tests) and India's Javagal Srinath (51 wickets in 11 Tests) and Anil Kumble (51 wickets in 12 Tests) have taken 50 wickets against South Africa since its return to Test cricket in 1992.

When Mark Boucher reached 46 he completed 1000 runs in his 30th Test and 38th innings. He became the 33rd South African and the 356th batsman in Test cricket to reach this milestone.

Boucher also became the 30th wicketkeeper to complete 1000 runs in a Test career. The roster of keepers with 1000 or more runs in a Test career includes seven Englishmen (Lesley Ames, Godfrey Evans, Alan Knott, Jim Parks, Jack Russell, Alec Stewart and Bob Taylor), three Australians, (Ian Healy, Rodney Marsh and Bert Oldfield), five South Africans (Johnny Waite- 2323 runs in 48 Tests,Dave Richardson -1359 runs in 42 Tests,HB Cameron-1239 Tests in 26 Tests, Denis Lindsay 1000 runs in 15 Tests and Mark Boucher 1029 runs in 30 Tests), two West Indians (Jeff Dujon and Deryck Murray), four Indians (Farokh Engineer, Syed Kirmani, Nayan Mongia and Kiran More), four Pakistanis (Imtiaz Ahmed, Moin Khan, Wasim Bari and Salim Yousuf), three New Zealanders (Adam Parore, Ian Smith and Ken Wadsworth), one Sri Lankan (Romesh Kaluwitharana) and one Zimbabwean (Andy Flower).

Boucher also became the second South African and the 23rd keeper in Test annals to achieve the allround double of 1000 runs and 100 dismissals. At 23 years 230 days Boucher is the youngest to complete the wicketkeeping double.He chopped about one and a half years off the previous record - England's Alan Knott was 25 years 120 days old when he completed his double in Tests in 1971.

The sixth wicket partnership of 124 runs between Lance Klusener and Mark Boucher in the first innings is South Africa's highest for this wicket against Sri Lankahome or away. This obliterates the previous highest of 122 between Daryll Cullinan and Dave Richardson at Colombo PSS in 1993-94.

The ninth wicket stand of 37 runs in the first innings between Klusener and Paul Adams was South Africa's best for this wicket against Sri Lanka. The partnership was however bettered in the second innings with a 45 run stand between Nicky Boje and Adams. The previous best for South Africa against Sri Lanka before this Test was paltry 12 run stand between Paul Adams and Shaun Pollock at Cape Town in 1997-98.

The tenth wicket stand of 43 runs between Klusener and Nantie Hayward in the first innings is a new record for South Africa for this wicket against Sri Lanka beating the 14 run-partnership between Paul Adams and Mkhaya Ntini at Centurion in 1997-98.

The catch of Jayawardene in the first innings was the 50th for Daryll Cullinan. He became the second South African after Bruce Mitchell (56 catches in 42 Tests) and 65th fieldsman in Test cricket to do so.

The duck in the first innings was the 13th for Muttiah Muralitharan in his career. Now only Pramodya Wickremasinghe has aggregated more ducks in a career for Sri Lanka- 17. Muralitharan moved ahead of Arjuna Ranatunga who also has a tally of 12 ducks. Muralitharan later extended his tally of ducks to 14.

South Africa's second innings total of 231 is its lowest against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. The previous lowest was 238 that was made in the last Test at Galle. However South Africa's alltime lowest against Sri Lanka still remains as 200 at Centurion in 1997-98.

The wicket of Mark Boucher in the second innings was the 150th for Muralitharan on Sri Lankan soil in his 29th Test.Murali became the first Sri Lankan and the 18th bowler in Test history to aggregate 150 or more wickets in matches at home. The list comprises of four Englishmen (Alec Bedser, Ian Botham, Fred Trueman and Bob Willis), three Australians (Dennis Lillee, Craig McDermott and Shane Warne),one South African (Allan Donald), three West Indians (Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh), one New Zealander (Richard Hadlee), two Indians (Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble) and three Pakistanis (Abdul Qadir, Imran Khan and Wasim Akram) and one Sri Lankan (Muttiah Muralitharan).

Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya became the third Sri Lankan pair of opening batsmen to be dismissed without scoring in the same innings when both were out to the very first ball they faced. S Wettimuny and ERNS Fernando (v Australia,Kandy,1982-83) were the earlier pair to do so.

For the first time in Test cricket opening pairs of either side failed to open their account in the same Test.

Marvan Atapattu became the fifth Sri Lankan to make a century and a duck in the same Test after Arjuna Ranatunga (127 & 0 vs Australia at Colombo in 1992-93), Aravinda de Silva (0 & 105 vs Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1995-96), Hasan Tillekeratne (115 & 0 vs Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1995-96) and Tillekeratne Dilshan (163* & 0 vs Zimbabwe at Harare in 1999-00).

Muarlitharan became the 10th Sri Lankan (on 12th occasion) to bag a Test match pair. Interestingly he became the first Sri Lankan to suffer this fate on home soil.He also became the 20th batsman to do so against South Africa.

When Arjuna Ranatunga reached 25 in the second innings he completed 5000 runs in Test cricket in his 92nd Test and 153rd innings. He became the second Sri Lankan after Aravinda de Silva (5685 runs in 84 matches) and the 45th batsman in Test cricket to achieve this landmark.

Ranatunga raced to his fifty off only 36 balls in the second innings. He now holds the record of scoring the fastest fifty for Sri Lanka. Ranatunga bettered his own record. He had completed his fifty off 43 balls during his innings of 131 also against South Africa at Moratuwa in 1993-94.

Ranatunga just failed to equal India's Mohammad Azharuddin's record of fastest fifty against South Africa. Azharuddin had taken 35 balls to complete his fifty at Calcutta in 1996-97.

Ranatunga had last scored a century way back in August 1993 when he made 131 against South Africa at Moratuwa. Since then he has played 49 Tests and 81 innings aggregating 2556 runs without ever reaching the three figure mark, though he has crossed 50 run mark on 22 occasions during this period. Ranatunga now holds the record of aggregating most runs and scoring most fifties during part of a career without scoring a century. The following table has the details :

Runs    Batsman (Country)     Period          Ins NO  Hs  Ave.   50s

2556 Arjuna Ranatunga (SL) 1993-94 to 2000-01 81 7 90 34.54 22 2199 Rameez Raja (Pak) 1986-87 to 1996-97 74 4 98 31.41 19 2113 Allan Border (Aus) 1988-89 to 1992-93 61 14 91*44.95 21 2084 Chetan Chauhan (Ind) 1969-70 to 1980-81 68 2 97 31.57 16 # 1993 Deryck Murray (WI) 1963 to 1980 96 9 91 22.90 11 # 1978 Trevor Goddard (SA) 1955 to 1964-65 61 5 99 35.32 15 1814 Wasim Raja (Pak) 1976-77 to 1983-84 58 7 97 35.56 15 1811 Malcolm Marshall (WI) 1978-79 to 1991 107 11 92 18.86 10 # 1805 Alistair Campbell(Zim)1992-93 to 2000 76 2 99 24.39 11 # 1764 Gus Logie (WI) 1987-88 to 1991 53 8 98 39.20 13 1752 Trevor Bailey (Eng) 1950-51 to 1958-59 74 8 95 26.54 7 1723 Alan Knott (Eng) 1971 to 1974-75 63 4 92 29.20 14 1653 Bob Simpson (Aus) 1957-58 to 1964 51 5 92 36.93 15 1639 AW Nourse (SA) 1902-03 to 1921-22 63 8 93*29.80 12 1613 Shane Warne (Aus) 1992-93 to 1999-00 117 12 86 15.36 4 # 1609 Rameez Raja (Pak) 1986-87 to 1992-93 58 5 98 30.35 13 1553 John Emburey (Eng) 1978 to 1992-93 91 18 75 21.25 8 # 1507 Ken Mackay (Aus) 1956 to 1963 52 7 89 33.48 13 #

The victory margin of seven runs is the seventh narrowest in Test annals and second narrowest for South Africa. South Africa had beaten Australia by 5 runs at Sydney in 1993-94. The accompanying table lists the narrowest wins in Test cricket :

Margin   Countries                              Venue         Season

1 run WI (252 + 146) bt Aus (213 + 184) Adelaide 1992-93 3 runs Aus (299 + 86) bt Eng (262 + 120) Manchester 1902 3 runs Eng (284 + 294) bt Aus (287 + 288) Melbourne 1982-83 5 runs SA (169 + 239) bt Aus (292 + 111) Sydney 1993-94 6 runs Aus (182 + 155) bt Eng (133 + 207) Sydney 1884-85 7 runs Aus ( 63 + 122) bt Eng (101 + 77) The Oval 1882 7 runs SA (253 + 231) bt SL (308 + 169) Kandy 2000-01 10 runs Eng (325 + 437) bt Aus (586 + 166) Sydney 1894-95

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