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1st Test, Sri Lanka v South Africa, Statistical Highlights

Rajneesh Gupta

July 26, 2000

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It was the 1504th Test match in cricket history.
It was Sri Lanka's 103rd and South Africa's 242nd Test match.
It was the sixth Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa. The record now reads : Sri Lanka 1, South Africa 3, drawn 2.
It was the fourth Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Sri Lanka. The record now reads : Sri Lanka 1, South Africa 1, drawn 2.
Daryll Harper and Peter Manuel both were officiating in their seventh Test match.
Neil McKenzie and Kumar Sangakkara were making their Test debut. They became 277th and 84th player to represent South Africa and Sri Lanka respectively.
Shaun Pollock captained South Africa for the first time in his 43rd Test. He became the 28th player to captain South Africa in a Test.
Jonty Rhodes was playing his 50th Test. He became the sixth South African to do so. The full roster : Hansie Cronje (68), Allan Donald (62), Gary Kirsten (61), Daryll Cullinan (57), Johnny Waite (50) and Jonty Rhodes (50).
Sri Lanka's total of 522 is the highest in the Sri Lanka-South Africa Tests.This obliterates South Africa's 495 at Colombo SSC in 1993-94. Incidentally Sri Lanka's previous highest against South Africa was 331 at Moratuwa in 1993-94.
The first wicket partnership of 193 runs between Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya is Sri Lanka's highest opening wicket stand in any Test, home and away, against South Africa, outstripping the previous highest of only 53 between this same pair at Centurion in 1997-98 and a modest stand of 26 between Roshan Mahanama and Chandika Hathurusinghe at Moratuwa in 1993-94.
The partnership is the second highest for Sri Lanka for the opening opening wicket against all countries after the record 335-run between this same pair against Pakistan at Kandy in June this year.
The partnership is also the highest for the first wicket against South Africa since its return to Test cricket obliterating the 179 run stand between Mark Butcher and Mike Atherton at Birmingham in 1998.
Marvan Atapattu became the seventh Sri Lankan to complete 2000 runs in a Test career when he reached 25. It was the 63rd innings of his 36th Test.
Sanath Jayasuriya, who scored 96 runs before lunch on the first day, came close to becoming the first Sri Lankan to score a pre-lunch hundred on the opening day of a Test. This feat has been achieved only on four occasions in Test cricket. They are three Australians Victor Trumper (lunch score 103*) v England at Manchester in 1902, Charles Macartney (lunch score 112*) v England at Leeds in 1926 and Don Bradman (lunch score 105*) v England at Leeds on 1930 and a Pakistani Majid Khan (lunch score 108*) v New Zealand at Karachi in 1976-77.
Mahela Jayawerdene's 167 is a new series record for the highest individual score on either side in any Sri Lanka-South Africa Test, taking precedence over 148 by Sanath Jayasuriya in this Test on the first day. The previous record for the highest individual innings in the series prior to this Test was 131 by Arjuna Ranatunga at Moratuwa in 1993-94 and 122 by Hansie Cronje at Colombo in 1993-94.
The century for Jayawerdene came in his first Test against South Africa. He now joins the august company of 11 Sri Lankans who have scored a century on their first appearance against a country. They are Duleep Mendis, Roy Dias, AmalSilva, Aravinda de Silva, Brendon Kuruppu, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sajeewa Ranatunga, Asanka Gurusinha and Marvan Atapattu. De Silva and Kaluwitharana have made century on first appearance against two countries.
The eighth wicket partnership of 117 runs between Jayawerdene and Chaminda Vaas is a new record for Sri Lanka's eighth wicket in all Test cricket outstripping the previous highest of 76 between Aravinda de Silva and Chaminda Vaas versus Pakistan at Colombo SSC in 1996-97. The previous highest eighth wicket stand for Sri Lanka against South Africa was a modest 29 run stand between Vaas and Pramodya Wickremasinghe at Cape Town in 1997-98.
This partnership is also the third highest for eighth wicket against South Africa in all Tests after the 161 run stand between Mohammad Azharuddin and Anil Kumble for India at Calcutta on 27-11-1996 and 154 run stand between Charles Wright and Hugh Bromley- Davenport for England at Johannesburg in 1895-96.
Chaminda Vaas became the third Sri Lankan to score a fifty at number nine after Graeme Labrooy who made 70* against New Zealand at Auckland in 1990-91 and Pramodya Wickremasinghe who made 51 against South Africa at Cape Town in 1997-98.
The tenth wicket partnership of 22 runs between Nuwan Zoysa and Muttiah Muralitharan is Sri Lanka's best for this wicket against South Africa improving upon the previous record of 19 between Wickremasinghe and Ravindra Pushpakumara at Cape Town in 1997-98.
Paul Adams (45-6-184-3) narrowly missed the undesirable feat of conceding most runs in an innings for South Africa. His figures are second most expensive for South Africa in a Test innings. The record, however, is on the name of CL Vincent who conceded 188 runs off his bowling in the Oval Test against England in 1935.
South Africa was made to follow-on for the 34th time in Test cricket. It was the only second occasion when a team enforced followon on South Africa since its return to international cricket. England made it to do so at Durban in December 1999. However, on that occasion, South Africa saved the match quite comprehensively.
Daryll Cullinan (114*) scored his 11th century in his 57th Test, his fourth against Sri Lanka. He has now scored most centuries in a career for South Africa. Cullinan surpassed fellow team-mate Gary Kirsten's tally of 10 centuries from 61 Tests.
The fifth wicket partnership of 43 runs between Cullinan and Lance Klusener is South Africa's best for this wicket against Sri Lanka. This expunges the previous record stand of 35 between Cullinan and Jonty Rhodes at Moratuwa in 1993-94.
South Africa's first innings total of 238 is its lowest against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. This expunges the previous lowest of 267 at Moratuwa in 1993-94.
Muralitharan twice established the record of returning the best innings bowling for Sri Lanka against South Africa in the Test by returning match winning figures of 6 for 87 in the first innings and 7 for 84 in the second innings. Muralitharan bettered his own 5 for 63 at Centurion in 1997-98.
Murali's match figures (13-171) are the best for Sri Lanka against South Africa. This obliterates the previous best of 8 for 157 also by Muralitharan at Centurion in 1997-98. Interestingly the previous best figures for Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka was also on the name of Muralitharan, who captured 6 for 152 at Moratuwa in 1993-94.
Muralitharan's figures are also the best in Sri Lanka-South Africa Tests surpassing Brett Schultz's nine for 106 at Colombo SSC in 1993-94.

Muralitharan achieved a rare feat of dismissing all eleven batsman in a match. Only five times before this feat has been achieved in Test cricket.Here-under is the complete list of bowlers performing this feat :

Bowler                 Figures    Countries     Venue      Season
Jim Laker              19-90      Eng v Aus     Manchester 1956
S Venkataraghavan      12-152     Ind v NZ      Delhi      1964-65
Geoff Dymock           12-166     Aus v Ind     Kanpur     1979-80
Abdul Qadir            13-101     Pak v Eng     Lahore     1987-88
Waqar Younis           12-130     Pak v NZ      Faisalabad 1990-91
M Muralitharan         13-171     SL v SA       Galle      2000-01

The wicket of Paul Adams was the 50th for Muttiah Muralitharan in the calendar year 2000. He was playing his seventh Test. He became first bowler to reach this milestone this year. Incidentally it was the second such occasion for him. Muralitharan had a tally of 68 wickets in only 8 Tests at 18.47 .
Muralitharan has now taken ten wicket match hauls on four occasions. He had taken 12 for 117 versus Zimbabwe at Kandy in 1997-98, 16 for 220 (best match figures by a Sri Lankan bowler) versus England at the Oval in 1998 and 10 for 148 versus Pakistan at Peshawar in 1999-00. Muralitharan thus became first Sri Lankan and 20th bowler in Test annals to take 10 wicket match hauls on four or more occasions.
Muralitharan has now taken 45 wickets in just six matches against South Africa. Only Australia's Shane Warne (64 wickets in 12 matches) and India's Javagal Srinath (51 in 11) and Anil Kumble (51 in 12) have taken more wickets against South Africa since its return to Test cricket in 1992.
The victory was Sri Lanka's third by an innings margin. Sri Lanka had beaten Zimbabwe by an innings and 77 runs at Colombo in 1996-97 and New Zealand by an innings and 16 runs at this same venue in 1998-99.
The defeat was South Africa's third by innings margin since its return to international cricket. The other two innings defeats came against Australia at Johannesburg in 1996-97 (lost by an innings and 196 runs) and at Sydney in 1997-98 (lost by an innings and 21 runs).