It was the 1671st ODI in cricket history. It was South Africa's 221st and Sri Lanka's 341st match. It was the 24th match between these two sides. The record now reads: South Africa 14, Sri Lanka 9, no result 1. It was the tenth match between these two sides in South Africa. The record now reads: South Africa 8, Sri Lanka 2. Umpires BG Jerling and Rudi Koertzen officiated in their second and 68th match respectively. Justin Kemp (right handed batsman and right arm fast medium bowler) made his debut. He became the 63rd player to represent South Africa in ODIs. Incidentally Kemp is the cousin of former South African player Dave Callaghan. Aravinda de Silva made a comeback into the Sri Lankan side. He last appeared for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in the Asia Cup match at Dhaka on 07-06-2000. The match was 269th for de Silva which equalled the tally of former captain Arjuna Ranatungamost for Sri Lanka. South Africa played without Lance Klusener. Interestingly Klusener had appeared in 70 consecutive matches before this break which is the second best performance by a South African. The record is held by Hansie Cronje who made 162 consecutive appearances from 1993-94 to 1999-00. De Silva got out caught and bowled for the 22nd time in his career in his 235th innings. De Silva has been dismissed in this fashion on more occasions than any other batsman in all ODIs. India's Mohammad Azharuddin with 15 such dismissals is placed second. De Silva's wicket also gave Jacques Kallis his fifth wicket in this mode, which equalled the tally of Lance Klusener. Now only Hansie Cronje (7) has taken more wickets in this fashion for South Africa than Kallis. Just for the record, New Zealander Chris Harris has taken the most caught and bowled wickets - 25. The sixth wicket partnership of 62 runs between Russell Arnold and Kumara Sangakkara was the best for Sri Lanka for this wicket against South Africa. This obliterated the previous record stand of 47 between Tulan Dilshan and Sangakkara at Port Elizabeth on 15-12-2000 in the first match of this series. South Africa registered its tenth consecutive win which equalled its best run in ODIs under Hansie Cronje's in 1996. The 1996 run began with a series defeat of England, and continued through the early stages of the World Cup competition in India and Pakistan, until the surprise quarter-final defeat by the West Indies.13 Waugh SR(Aus) v Ind,Mel'ne,12-01-2000 v NZ,Napier,01-03-2000
11 Lloyd CH(WI) v Eng,Lord's,04-06-1984 v NZ,Napier,01-03-2000
11 Gooch GA(Eng) v WI,Bir'ham,23-05-1991 v SA,Mel'ne,12-03-1992
10 Richards IVA(WI) v Ind,Rajkot,05-01-1988 v Pak,G'own,30-03-1988
10 Border AR(Aus) v Pak,Mel'ne,23-02-1990 v SL,Sh'jah,02-05-1990
10 Imran Khan(Pak) v Ind,Sh'jah,27-04-1990 v WI,Multan,13-11-1990
10 Cronje WJ(SA) v Eng,J'burg,13-01-1996 v WI,Kar'hi,05-03-1996
10 Pollock SM(SA) v NZ, Benoni,22-10-2000 v SL,Bl'ein,14-01-2001
Herschelle Gibbs won the Man of the Match award for the third time in his 62nd match.