It was the 1558th Test match in cricket history
Rajneesh Gupta30-Aug-2001
- It was the 1558th Test match in cricket history.
- It was Australia’s 619th and England’s 786th Test match.
- It was 301st Test between these two sides. The record now reads :
Australia 121, England 94,drawn 86. - It was the 146th Test between these two sides in England. The
record now reads : Australia 45, England 41,drawn 60. - It was the 33rd Test between these two sides at The Oval. The record
now reads : Australia 6,England 15,drawn 12. - James Ormand (right-handed batsman and medium fast bowler) was
making his Test debut for England. He became 607th player to represent
England in Test cricket. - Andrew Caddick was making his 50th Test appearance. He became 46th
Englishman and 173rd player in all to do so. - Umpires Rudi Koertzen and Peter Willey were officiating in their
26th and 24th match respectively. - The stand of 158 between Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer was
Australia’s third-best for the first wicket at The Oval. The record
remains 180, by Warren Bardsley and Syd Gregory in 1909. Bill Woodfull
and Bill Ponsford added 159 in 1930. - Justin Langer (102 retired hurt) was scoring his eighth hundred in
his 42nd Test. It was his second against England, following 179 not
out at Adelaide in 1998-99. It was also the first he had made after
opening the innings, which he had only done once before against West
Indies at Perth in 1992-93, in only his second Test, when he made 10
and 1. - Mark Waugh moved past David Boon (7422 runs) into fourth place on
the list of top Australian Test run-getters when he reached 32 in
Australia’s only innings. Now only Allan Border (11174 runs in 156
matches), twin brother Steve (9286 in 139) and Mark Taylor (7525 in
104) are ahead of Mark. - Steve Waugh (157*) was making his 27th Test century in his 139th
match. He has now moved to third place among the leading Test
centurions surpassing West Indian Garry Sobers tally of 26 and
equalling with his former captain Allan Border. This after he had to
wait until his 42nd Test innings to score his maiden hundred ! Now
only Indian Sunil Gavaskar (34) and Don Bradman (29) are ahead of
Steve. - Mark Waugh’s 120 was his 20th Test hundred, making him the seventh
Australian to reach that landmark. - Australia’s only innings included three centuries. This provided the
sixth instance when three Australian batsmen scored centuries in the
same Test innings in England. The other instances being: at this same
venue in 1884 (PS McConnell 103,WL Murdoch 211 & HJH Scott 102),at
Headingley in 1926 (WM Woodfull 141,CG Macartney 151 & AJ Richardson
100), at Lord’s (MA Taylor 111, MJ Slater 152 and DC Boon 164*) and
Headingley (DC Boon 107, AR Border 200* and SR Waugh 157*) in 1993 and
at Edgbaston (SR Waugh 105, DR Martyn 105 and AC Gilchrist 152) in
first Test of this series. Australia’s only innings included six
scores of fifty plus-20th such instance in a Test innings. Australia
however missed the chance to equal the existing world record of most
fifties in an innings which is held by England who scored seven
fifties in the first innings of Manchester Test in 1934. - Usman Afzaal took a wicket with only his third ball in Test cricket
when he had Adam Gilchrist caught by Ramprakash. He became the 29th
Englishman to take a wicket in his first over and the fourth to do so
off his third ball. The last England player before Afzaal to take a
wicket off his third ball was Graeme Hick who dismissed West Indies
Phil Simmons with his off-spinnner at Lord’s in 1991. - When he dismissed Alec Stewart in England s first innings, Shane
Warne became the first spinner and only the sixth bowler in all to
take 400 Test wickets. Warne joined the elite club of 400-wicket
takers which has Courtney Walsh (519),Kapil Dev (434), Richard Hadlee
(431),Wasim Akram (414) and Curtly Ambrose (405) as its other members.
His first victim was Indian allrounder Ravi Shastri, caught by Dean
Jones at Sydney in 1991-92. His 100th was another all-rounder, Brian
McMillan of South Africa, lbw at Adelaide in 1993-94. Ricky Ponting
shared in No. 200 by catching Sri Lanka’s Hashan Tillekeratne at Perth
in 1995-96 – and the Warne 300 was brought up when South African
wicket-keeper Dave Richardson fell to him for the second time in the
match at Sydney in 1997-98. Warne has reached 400 in 92 Tests, faster
than anyone except the remarkable Hadlee, who took just 80 matches to
reach this landmark. - The dismissal of Darren Gough in first innings off Shane Warne was
100th for Adam Gilchrist as a wicket-keeper. He became fifth
Australian after Ian Healy (395),Rod Marsh (355), Wally Grout (187)
and Bert Oldfield (130) and the 26th keeper in all to do so. By
reaching this landmark in his 22nd Test Gilchrist became the quickest
in Test history breaking the world record set by South Africa’s Mark
Boucher, also against England, at Port Elizabeth in 1999-2000. - With this Gilchrist also completed the all-round double of 1000 runs
and 100 dismissals. Obviously he is the fastest to complete the double
obliterating Rod Marsh s record of 25 Tests. - Mike Atherton (in second innings) fell off the bowling of Glenn
McGrath for the sixth time in this series and 19th time in his careera new record of a batsman getting dismissed off a particular bowler on
most occasions. The Atherton-McGrath combination broke the record of
Arthur Morris and Alec Bedser. England fast-medium bowler Bedser
dismissed Australian opener Morris 18 times from 1946-47 to 1953. - Shane Warne (7-165) was taking seven wickets in a Test innings in
England for the first time. This was also the second time in the
series that he has improved his best figures in England. His 6 for 33
at Trent Bridge bettered the 6 for 48 he took at Old Trafford in 1997.
Warne’s best figures against England, home or away, remains 8 for 71
at Brisbane in 1994-95. When Glenn McGrath dismissed Usman Afzaal in
the second innings, he moved past Dennis Lillee (355 wickets in 70
Tests) into second place on the list of Australian Test wicket-takers.
Only Shane Warne (407) now is ahead of him. The blonde bombshell has
moved to the fourth place among the leading wicket takers surpassing
West Indian Curtly Ambrose (405). - Shane Warne (11-229) took ten wickets in a Test for the fifth time
but it was the first time he had done it outside Australia. It was
also the second time he had taken ten or more wickets against England. - Steve Waugh extended his world-record of finishing on the winning
side for the 66th time in Tests, while his twin brother Mark moved
ahead of Viv Richards (63) with his 64th Test victory. At the other
end of the scale, Alec Stewart also extended his world-record with the
48th Test defeat of his career, ahead of Allan Border (46) and Mike
Atherton (44). - Glenn McGrath finished the series with 32 wickets. It was the third
time he has taken 30 or more in a series (36 against England in 1997,
and 30 against West Indies in 1998-99). The only other bowlers to
capture 30 or more wickets in a series on three separate occasions are
Syd Barnes and Alec Bedser of England, and Clarrie Grimmett and Craig
McDermott of Australia. - Australia has now featured in 23 consecutive Tests with positive
results, winning 20 and losing only three a new world-record. It
bettered England’s run of 22 result producing Tests from December 1884
to March 1892. - This was the first English summer to feature seven Tests with
positive results (England won two and lost five). The previous record
was six, in the nine-Test Triangular tournament summer of 1912, when
England won four and Australia two. The third team, South Africa, lost
five of those and Australia one.
