It was the 1738th ODI in cricket history
Rajneesh Gupta26-Jul-2001It 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.
