Fast bowler Gurinder Sandhu and wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Carters will be part of the Cricket Australia XI to take on New Zealand in a tour match in Sydney starting this Thursday. Ashton Turner will captain the side in the three-day match and due to its clashing with the opening Sheffield Shield round, the CA XI will be shorn of much of the talent that took on the New Zealanders at the weekend.Whereas in Canberra the CA XI looked like a strong Australia A side, boasting Test hopefuls such as Usman Khawaja, Cameron Bancroft and Joe Burns, at Blacktown this week it will more resemble the CA XI that took part in the Matador Cup. Carters, Sandhu and Turner form the experienced core of the side, with the talented young New South Wales batsman Kurtis Patterson also included.There will also be several men who played for the CA XI in the one-day competition, including Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Short and Mitch Swepson. The match will be New Zealand’s final warm-up game ahead of the first Test at the Gabba, and CA’s national talent manager Greg Chappell said the three-day fixture would be a good opportunity for some of Australia’s young talent.”New Zealand has been one of the most successful international teams in recent years so it will be a great experience for this CA XI, which includes some of the most exciting young cricketers in the country,” Chappell said. “This will be a great leadership opportunity for Ashton Turner. He has performed admirably when captaining at this level in recent years and this will allow him to build on that experience.”West Australian all-rounder Hilton Cartwright was particularly impressive with the bat during the recent Matador BBQs One-Day Cup. He was unlucky to miss out on his maiden List A century against Queensland, but he definitely held his own against formidable opposition.”We have been very pleased with Gurinder Sandhu’s progress over the last 12 months. His consistent performances earned him his international debut and he performed well under pressure on the big stage. He was also impressive for Australia A in tough conditions in India earlier this year and also showed his diversity of skills with the introduction of his spin bowling.”Cricket Australia XI Ashton Turner (capt), Riley Ayre, Jake Carder, Ryan Carters (wk), Hilton Cartwright, Sam Heazlett, Kurtis Patterson, Jake Reed, Liam Hatcher, Gurinder Sandhu, Matthew Short, Mitch Swepson.

Dominic Cork, with a memorable bowling performance on his return to Testcricket after a twenty-month absence and a very commendable effort fromDarren Gough, restricted West Indies to a moderate score after the touristsseemed well on the way to posting an imposing total.Claiming four for 39 from twenty six overs, which included an inspired spellof three for 16 from eleven overs after tea, Cork was chiefly responsible forcrippling the West Indian batting. Gough had not been particularly effectivein his earlier spell but he, too, came back strongly after tea, striking twovitally important blows with the dismissal of Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams.While Gough will be pleased with his spell late in the day and Cork will havegood reason to celebrate his return to the big stage, the rest of England’sbowling was disappointing and, on 162 for one (a run out), West Indies couldhardly have wished for a better start.To get back in the series after their crushing defeat in the first Test,England, ideally, needed to put West Indies under pressure from the start.But having called correctly at the toss, which was a good one to win in theconditions – it was overcast and there was some early life in the pitch -England failed to take advantage. To make it worse for themselves they evenfailed to accept chances that were offered by both opening batsmen early intheir innings.With an attack that lacked variety, England bowlers made little impressionduring the first half of the day. As off-spinner, Robert Croft was omittedfrom the final eleven, it left England with just seam bowling at theirdisposal. Of these bowlers, only Gough and Andy Caddick have had creditableperformances this season. With Matthew Hoggard making his debut, Corkreturning to the Test scene after a long gap and Craig White after an evenlonger absence, the selectors were taking a bit of a chance.If their argument was on the basis that the West Indians’ seam attack hasbeen so effective, then they would do well to remember that the tourists’bowling has in its ranks two of the great exponents of the art. CourtneyWalsh, at 37 and Curtly Ambrose at 36 still remain a very formidable pair.One need not look any further back than the last Test, at Edgbaston, forproof of their present standing.White was unimpressive in his eight overs, one of which provided Wavell Hindswith three stylish cover drives. Hoggard’s bowling was promising in his earlyspell but later fell apart and Franklyn Rose helped himself to a 6,4,2 and 4in one over.Some injudicious stroke-play and the late spells of Cork and Gough saw thetourists lose eight for 96 to end the day on 267 for nine. If England can batwell, they have a chance to put themselves in a strong position in thismatch.

As they say, when it rains, it pours. Pakistan having got into awinning frame of mind were unstoppable. In a clinical battingdisplay followed by some inspired bowling the Pakistanis won theCoca Cola Cup 2000 by 16 runs.When Shahid Afridi is at the crease he does not muck around.Either he is scoring runs or is back in the pavilion. Off late,he has not spent enough time at the wicket to make a decentscore. However, the shiny batting track that the final was playedon was perfect for Afridi to go for his shots. With no lateralmovement to speak of, Afridi launched himself into drives withvigour not commonly displayed.Though the South Africans were as sharp in the field as ever,there was little they could do as the ball raced through the offside with regularity. When he flicked the ball past mid wicket tobring up his fifty off just 46 balls, his joy was obvious for allto see.The first to go was Shahid Afridi, attempting to hit LanceKlusener back over his head for six. The ball went straight up inthe air and Kallis chased after it. Running backwards, Kallisthrew himself full length at the end of running a fair few yardsand pulled off what was easily the best catch of the tournament.Afridi had made 52.Imran Nazir went down the wicket too early to a Derek Crookes offspinner and was beaten by the line of the delivery. Seeing himcome down the wicket Crookes sent the ball down the leg side.Mark Boucher whipped the bails off before Imran Nazir could makeit back and all of a sudden Pakistan had lost both its openers.Imran Nazir’s 69 laid the foundation for a good Pakistan score.Inzamam and Youhana consolidated the Pakistan innings with somesensible batting. The brilliant start that they were given byImran Nazir and Shaid Afridi meant the Pakistanis could take iteasy for a period of time.Inzamam restricted himself to pushing the ball into the gaps andpicking singles while Youhana took the initiative. Stroking theball well, Youhana picked up the occasional boundary to add tohis score. Nantie Hayward almost lost his head evading a straightdrive by Inzamam. The ball was struck so fiercely that he had todive out of the way very quickly in his follow through.Inzamam got to his fifty in steady fashion. However, in anattempt to boost the scoring rate, Inzamam was clean bowled byShaun Pollock. Coming late in the innings, the loss of his wicketwas not such a blow to the Pakistan charge.Razzaq and Wasim Akram heaved a few lusty blows towards the endand took Pakistan to 263/6 off their allotted 50 overs. LanceKlusener with 2/27 off his 10 overs was easily the pick of thebowlers.The tried and tested opening pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younisbegan brilliantly for the Pakistanis. Akram used all thevariations in his armoury and troubled the South African batsmen.Herschelle Gibbs has enjoyed some good form in the recent timesand his confidence was up. Stroking the ball firmly, Gibbsbrought up the first boundary of the innings driving Waqar on theup through the off side.Akram finally got his man when Gibbs played loosely at a deliverythat left him. The ball flew off the edge to the slips whereInzamam’s safe hands clasped the ball quickly.Jacques Kallis, the man whose contribution was crucial in SouthAfrica’s path to the final, was beaten all ends up by MohammedAkram. In his very first over, Mohammed Akram got the ball tobounce a little more than the batsman expected. Kallis was lateon the shot, the ball slid off the face to Moin Khan who snappedthe catch up.The South Africans had no choice but to consolidate after theyhad lost two early wickets. The going was predictably slow.Captain Hansie Cronje and new comer Neil McKenzie did not attemptto do anything fancy. In the face of some disciplined Pakistanibowling they nudged the ball into the gaps and picked up ones andtwos.Hansie Cronje’s captain’s knock came to an end when he attemptedone big shot too many against Pakistani off spinner. Arshad Khangave the ball good loop, tempting the South African captain to gofor his shots. After hitting one clean six over mid wicket,Cronje attempted to repeat the stroke with bad results. The ballstopped on Cronje and he went through with the stroke anyway. Theball headed straight towards the fielder mid wicket. Younis Khantook his time and completed the catch comfortably. Cronje’sinnings of 79 in 73 balls ended just when things were going wellfor the South Africans.Neil McKenzie who had struggled on for seemingly endless amountsof time, misread an arm ball from Arshad Khan and presentedMohammed Akram with a catch at short cover. His 58 runs took allof 107 balls.Waqar Younis returned at the end of the innings to destroy allSouth Africa’s hopes. While Mark Boucher fought spectacularly atone end, the wickets tumbled around him and South Africa’s hopesdiminished with every passing over.In successive deliveries Waqar had Nicky Boje caught behind andLance Klusener clean bowled. South Africa hoped for a lot fromKlusener. In the past there have been many occasions whenthe aggressive all rounder has been called upon to hit South Africa out of a hole. On this occasion Klusener was dealt with swiftly by Waqar. Comingaround the wicket to the left hander, Waqar let slip a quickdelivery that came in with the arm and pegged the off stump back.After that it was simply too much of an uphill task for the SouthAfricans. Mark Boucher played a gem of an innings, picking upcrucial boundaries. Improvising well, Boucher used the width ofthe crease superbly, making room for himself and smashing theball through the on side with regularity. However, Waqar gotsweet revenge for all the times he was hit away by Boucher whenhe bowled the South African stumper with the last ball of hisspell.The match was all over at that stage. Abdur Razzaq bowled a welldirected yorker to clean up Nantie Hayward and Pakistan had wonthe Coca Cola Cup 2000 by 16 runs.

Border rose from the ashes of a disappointing first knock of 244 to rip out the Easterns top order. The hitherto unbeaten visitors were left reeling on 40 for four after the first day of their Supersport Series encounter on Friday.Off-spinner Geoff Love, introduced to the fray early after Easterns’ slow left-armer Anthony Botha had enjoyed a field day on the Buffalo Park pitch, knocked over both Easterns openers, Brad White and Dylan Jennings, before skipper Pieter Strydom claimed a third wicket for the slow men, that of Allied Mabene, before the close.The 20 overs Easterns had to face turned into a trial of epic proportions and there is plenty of work for Gareth Flusk, unbeaten on 12, and the evergreen Mike Rindel, who has yet to score, to do to right the Easterns ship on Saturday.Despite the absence of fiery paceman Andre Nel, serving a one-matchsuspension, Easterns managed to knock over the Border line-up with relative ease, thanks to Botha’s three for 23 on his 24th birthday and a command performance from Kenny Benjamin, who took six for 73.The Border innings was almost entirely built around a fourth-wicket stand of 134 between Steven Pope and Strydom, which contained an inordinately high proportion of boundaries. Pope blasted 18 fours in his 92, made off 200 balls, and Strydom hit nine fours and a six in his 63, which took only 93 deliveries.However, when both were out in successive overs with the total on 208, the writing was on the wall for the home side. Benjamin removed Ian Mitchell, such a stalwart with the bat in recent matches, before another run had been added and then he and Botha grabbed another two each to end an innings in which the last seven wickets fell for a paltry 36 runs.By close of play, however, Easterns’ proud record this season of winning all four of their matches in firs-class and limited-overs cricket was facing a stern test in what is their first encounter away from Benoni’s Willowmoore Park.

The bowling exploits of Shib Sagar Singh continues as he helped Bengal beatOrissa by eight wickets at Baharampur Stadium, Baharampur in the Under-22Tournament between Bengal and Orissa on Thursday.On Tuesday Bengal won the toss and asked Orissa to have a bat first. Orissa were100/3 when Singh started to strike, picking up five wickets in a row to bowlthem out for 140 in 55.4 overs. RR Das with 48 top-scored for Orissa as Singhreturned with the figures of 14-4-32-5. Arindam Das who opened for Bengal made asuperb 85, which included 13 fours guided Bengal to a 100 run lead. There werenotable contributions from RR Nath (40) and D Chakrabarty (32) as Bengal wereall out for 240 in 89.1 overs. Saurav Sehgal was impressive with the ballpicking up 6/62 in 32 overs as three batsmen were run out in the innings. Orissawere helped along by a 86 runs fourth wicket partnership between Das and NBehera. Das who had excelled in the first innings came good in the second too,scoring 73 runs, hitting one six and seven boundaries. Behera made 36 thatincluded 5 boundaries. S Mohanty played a little cameo of 36 low in the ordersmashing two sixes and three fours. Shib Sagar Singh picked up three morewickets for 47 runs. Orissa were bowled out for 196 in 90.3 overs leaving Bengalto make 97 to win. Bengal started badly losing two wickets with just 31 on theboard but were guided past their target by Arindam Das and Ranabir Nath as theyadded 61 runs for the unbeaten third wicket partnership. Arindam Das was severeon the bowlers smashing three sixes and four boundaries as he reached his fiftyin 48 balls to remain unbeaten on 51 at the close of play. Nath made 35 in 32balls hitting a six and five boundaries. Bengal took all eight points toOrissa’s none.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on Sunday wanted his team to carry onthe good work after winning the first Test against Zimbabwe inBulawayo.”The boys are happy to have won a Test in 15 years outside the subcontinent. We have to build up on this now. It is good to have such astart but we have to be more consistent in winning abroad. We have tobe more consistent in playing good cricket,” Ganguly said.Asked if the second innings chase for his team was made easy becauseHeath Streak and Henry Olonga were missing from the Zimbabwean line-upGanguly countered saying that had Nehra not been banned they wouldhave got them out earlier.”If Nehra had not been taken off, we would have got them much earlier.There are no ifs and buts in cricket. Obviously they were a littlehandicapped without their two main bowlers. But these things happen ina game,” said Ganguly.Coach John Wright felt that Harbhajan Singh is developing his battingskills. “I think is he is developing his batting,” Wright said whenasked whether Harbhajan has the makings of an allrounder.Wright said he was pleased with Nehra as he fielded well and battedlong enough for the last wicket, adding 38 important runs. “It isgiving depth to our side,” the coach said.Wright did not feel that Sadagopan Ramesh, who made 2 and 17 in thematch, didn’t contribute in the game. “He took two outstanding catcheswhich actually turned the tide of the game."I am very pleased with the boys. We have the potential of winning onevery ground. I have always felt that. We coped very well. The processstarted in Bangalore and we took some outstanding catches in thisgame,” Wright said.Ganguly was not too upset with his own form. “Every time I get lowscores I think about the good scores I have scored in the past. I amnot worried, as long as the team wins. There is no point in doing welland the team not winning. I would love to score runs though”. he said.”The performance was satisfying. We took some outstanding catches inthe match and it means we have gone fitter which I think is veryimportant. We have tried to work hard on our fitness. We have tried toimprove the standards of our fitness,” said Ganguly.On Nehra’s ban, Ganguly said the warnings came quickly before he couldchange the end. “He was warned from the other side but these twowarnings happened very quickly. We could have got him from the otherend straightaway. But he kept telling me he would try and get off thedanger zone. I told him to come around the wicket but he was not toocomfortable around the wicket.”But Ganguly was not happy with the way India batted in the firstinnings. “We have played well but we could have done better in thefirst innings. We could have scored a few more runs in the firstinnings. Thanks to Bhajji (Harbhajan) and Sameer (Dighe) who addeduseful 90 runs, we had a decent total. Also, our bowlers could havedone a bit better, I thought they bowled short. We should have pitchedit up."Asked if he was worried whether Zaheer Khan would go the Nehra wayafter he was warned twice, Ganguly said that it crossed his mind. “Itdid cross my mind but Zaheer but was alright today. He came back overthe wicket and he was okay. We have a thought to carry back to Hararewhen we pick the team for second Test.”Wright too had his reaction on the matter. “I thought it was alearning process for all of us. Monitoring of the danger area istighter in Test matches. I should have monitored it myself but it is alearning process. As Sourav mentioned, it happened very quickly. Weknow we have time between this and the next Test match and we have towork very hard on it.”

Indian Law Minister Arun Jaitley has said the ‘misconduct’ by cricketers found guilty by the CBI of match-fixing did not come under any of the existing penal provisions and it was for the Sports Ministry to suggest changes in the law to prosecute such offenders.”Those found guilty of match-fixing did show misconduct. But the ingredients of misconduct strictly did not fit into any of the penal provisions of criminal code of conduct wherein they could be prosecuted,” Jaitley told reporters in London on Wednesday.The Sports Ministry had referred the case to him to find out whether any penal action could be taken based on the CBI report, Jaitley, who is also President of Delhi and District Cricket Association, said. “As of today, with the kind of evidence they have, all accusations showed misconduct by concerned cricketers and therefore, the Cricket Board was empowered to take action which they did,” Jaitley said.The minister said there was no proposal before the Law Ministry to incorporate penal provisions for such misconduct and added, “It is for the Department of Sports to consider.””If such acts are repeatedly still taking place in spite of the exposures, then you have to come out with tougher provisions of law”, Jaitley said.Jaitley said among all the inquiries held into match-fixing in different countries, it was the Delhi police inquiry and the CBI probe which brought out all the evidence. “They have brought in hard evidence. They have not gone by surmises. The CBI has done a good job”, he said.Jaitley said the “legislative premises has always been that the evil sought to be curbed and the law you bring in must have some relationship of proportionality between the two.””If you legislate and bring in penal action, the level of proof required is much higher. Then the proof has to be beyond reasonable doubt and for the Indian Cricket Board to proceed to take disciplinary action, the level of proof as in a civil litigation is a preponderance of probabilities. For a court to convict him the proof required will be beyond reasonable doubt”, he said.

Every day, as the sun rises over Lake Ontario and sweeps across the adjoining collection of beaches and bays, it would be possible to imagine a million potentialities for this city. The vast urban sprawl that it has become in the wave of the amalgamation of six far smaller cities only three years ago, Toronto offers a mixture of activity that caters for almost every conceivable taste.Or so any self-respecting tourist brochure – or almost any observation of everyday life here for that matter – will tell you.North America’s fourth biggest city hardly shapes as an archetypal venue for international cricket. Amid the hustle of daily events, there are certainly few obvious clues that it is about to play host to cricket’s biggest gathering of national teams.At a local level, summer sporting passions here are fuelled in person, in print and on the airwaves by the fortunes of baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays. As for a tangible fervour for far-reaching international competition, it is the flags that exhort the city’s residents to “Expect the World” in the lead-up to the decision next month on its bid to host the 2008 Olympics which dominate.Happily, the lack of exposure for them within the area bounded by Toronto’s frequently jammed highways and leafy, tree-lined avenues doesn’t particularly bother most of the players or teams that have assembled for the 2001 ICC Trophy tournament. Moreover, they have learnt to live with an absence of international notoriety, hype and hysteria for most of their careers.It is, in fact, hard to imagine too many more amenable settings for the hopes, aspirations and dreams of twenty-three developing cricketing nations to collide.In the four years that have passed since the Trophy’s last incarnation – in Kuala Lumpur – cricket has been afflicted by arguably its deepest-ever scandal. The scourge of match fixing and corruption has scarred its soul, ravaged its reputation, and played havoc with its credibility. At various times, those responsible for charting the sport’s very future have seemed under siege.Yet there can be probably be few greater demonstrations of the game’s enduring appeal than in the way in which nations from backgrounds as diverse as Uganda and the United States or centres as distant as Fiji and France continue to come together for this event.Through the twenty-two years of its history, no other cricket tournament in the world has brought together so many nations nor so effectively melded drama, tension and exhilaration with the basic grass-roots ideal of participation. It remains a remarkable celebration of the game and its prospects.On the battlefront itself, a close and compelling contest for glory can be anticipated. Scotland, with the legacy of one World Cup campaign already behind it, will enter the fray as the favourite. Yet no mortgage on another Cup berth – a prize which lies in wait for each of the three best sides in this event – can be automatically assumed. Strong competition is expected to come from the likes of Ireland – the team which it narrowly nosed out in the race for third-placed honours four years ago – as well as from the Netherlands and host nation Canada.The development of complex seeding and points systems has seen to it that many of the lower-ranked sides will find the goal of a World Cup spot as elusive as ever before. Their visions of emulating nations like Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya (for each of whom success at this level has paved the way for eventual admission to fully-fledged Test and/or One-Day International status) will, accordingly, almost certainly have to be put on hold in the short term.For Italy, such ambitions have already been over-ridden by an International Cricket Council ruling that four of its leading players were ineligible to compete. The respective passages of Nepal, West Africa and the United Arab Emirates were far from smooth either; visa problems promoting a flurry of late diplomatic activity.Nonetheless, everything is now set in place for a spectacular and successful event. The rankings have been formulated. The schedule has been unveiled. Twenty-two days in the midst of an increasingly warm Toronto summer have been set aside. An infrastructure has been made to measure and ten grounds, replete with turf pitches which have been crafted in often unsympathetic conditions, have been beautifully prepared.As four years of earnest preparations approach their climax, it is over to the players.

A good game is a quick game they say in many sports, but New Zealand Cricket analyst Zach Hitchcock has developed the ability to reduce a day’s play to 30-35 minutes.When that involves recording every ball of the day into the laptop computer analysis system formerly known as the “Pooch”, it makes life simple for all concerned.Since the end of the last summer, Hitchcock has been writing a new computer program for the New Zealand analysis system and its potential is outstanding.Previously, the New Zealand analysis system was one developed for use across a variety of sports.Now the system is cricket specific and much easier to work. With several other options to be developed, it is also likely to be more accessible to players than before.Until now Hitchcock, who flies out to Sri Lanka with the CLEAR Black Caps on Friday, has had to take a seat at grounds close to power feeds and television connections to be able to work his wonders with the system.However, it was restrictive enough to mean that Hitchcock wasn’t able to provide specific information to players until they were back in their hotels, not the best time for computer watching when players are more concerned about getting out to get a meal of an evening.It also meant lugging 24kgs of gear around the world in order to do the required recording.Now with a much smaller laptop, the system is more portable, and in the right circumstances, Hitchcock will be alongside the players in their dressing room, providing instant analysis for players to absorb.That is an especially valuable tool for bowlers attempting to find weaknesses in their opponents while batsmen can be advised in breaks just where they could minimise the opportunities for bowlers to break through them.Hitchcock has devised a system which merely by clicking the mouse on a part of a scoreboard can provide any amount of information, all fours hit, any balls played at and missed, anything.And it all rolls around in a few seconds. Not too long to make it boring, and just quick enough to make an impression to the right enquiring mind.Similarly, for bowlers, to specific batsmen. What happened when balls short of a length were bowled to a batsman, playing back, forward or anything else he might do.Player v player information is also available.”I started to write it last year when we were in South Africa and I had it about one-third finished by the end of the summer.”Since then I have worked full on to have it ready for Sri Lanka. One of the good things about this system is that because a lot of our guys now have their own laptops, I can download the material and send it to them and they can keep it all on their own computers,” he said.Hitchcock said that while analysis systems are now common place with all teams, the Australians are the only ones to have theirs on laptop format and he felt his system would be right up with the best he has seen.There is good news too, for New Zealand associations as he is looking to have the software available for them. The only thing they will have to do is come up with the hardware, included the video capture card which is one of the main reasons for the improved system.His work with the system is still not complete as he intends to incorporate among other things alpha blending, or overlays, of players playing shots allowing them to make comparisons with other batsmen.While he has a degree in software engineering, Hitchcock is also a cricket fan having played to senior level in Taranaki before attending university.”But doing this, I’ve learnt so much about cricket, and bowling, and spin bowling especially,” he said.The hope has to be that future New Zealand cricketers get the benefits of exposure to this home-grown system for the game’s advancement on the world stage.

• It was the 1738th ODI in cricket history.
• It was New Zealand’s 382nd and Sri Lanka’s 358th match – 49thbetween these two sides. The record now reads : Sri Lanka 20, NewZealand 26, abandoned 2 and tied one.
• Umpires EAR de Silva and LV Jayasundra were officiating in theirninth and sixth match respectively.
• New Zealand’s total (236-8) was its highest against Sri Lanka inSri Lanka. This obliterated the previous highest of 234 for six (in 42overs) at Colombo SSC on March 3,1984.
• During his unbeaten knock of 37 (off 25 balls) Adam Parore becamethe highest run scorer for New Zealand against Sri Lanka. Hisaggregate,at the end of this match,stands as 622 runs from 24 gamesagainst Sri Lanka which puts him ahead of John Wright’s run aggregateof 588 from 24 matches.
• The catch of Gunawerdene was 11th for Chris Harris in his 27thmatch against Sri Lanka which makes him the fielder with most catchesagainst Sri Lanka for New Zealand. He was previously at level withJohn Wright and Stephen Fleming with 10 catches.
• Romesh Kaluwitharana was getting out without scoring for the 21sttime in his 163rd match. He is now inching towards Wasim Akram’sdubious record of aggregating most ducks in a career. Wasim has 25ducks from 319 matches to his (dis)credit. However it wasKaluwitharana’s only second duck on Sri Lankan soil.
• The fifth wicket partnership of 110 runs between Marvan Atapattuand Russel Arnold was Sri Lanka’s best for this wicket against NewZealand in all matches. This obliterated the previous highest of 88between Asanka Gurusinha and Upul Chandana at Sharjah on April18,1994. Incidentally Sri Lanka’s previous highest record partnershipfor sixth wicket against New Zealand was of only 28 runs betweenArjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya at Colombo SSC on December13,1992.
• The above partnership was also the third highest by any side forfifth wicket against New Zealand after the 115 run-partnership betweenBruce Laird and Allan Border for Australia at Dunedin on February17,1982 and 113 run-partnership between David Gower and Derek Randallfor England at Brisbane on January 15,1983.
• The sixth wicket unbroken partnership of 103 runs between RusselArnold and Suresh Perera was also Sri Lanka’s best for this wicketagainst New Zealand expunging the previous highest of 91 (unbeaten)between Hassan Tillakaratne and Ruwan Kalpage at East London onDecember 18,1994. The previous highest for Sri Lanka against NewZealand in Sri Lanka was 65 between Roy Dias and Aravinda de Silva atColombo PSS on November 3,1984.
• Russel Arnold’s 91* was the 22nd score in the nineties by a SriLankan. He also became the eight Sri Lankan to do so. The table isheaded by Aravinda de Silva who has eight scores from 90 to 99 to hisname,followed by Marvan Atapattu,Roshan Mahanama and Arjuna Ranatunga(thrice each),Romesh Kaluwitharana (twice) and Asanka Gurusinha andSanath Jayasuriya (once each).
• Arnold’s innings was the highest for a Sri Lankan while batting atnumber six. The previous highest was Arjuna Ranatunga’s unbeaten 83against West Indies at Sharjah on October 28,1993.Incidentally India’sKapil Dev holds the ODI record of highest score at number six with hisswashbuckling innings of 175* against Zimbabwe on Tunbridge Wells onJune 18,1983.
• Suresh Perera (56*) made his maiden fifty in his 14th match. Hisprevious highest was 28 against India in the third league match ofthis series.
• Russel Arnold was winning his fourth Man of the Match award in58th match.