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Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka at Harare on 18-12-99

Mohandas Menon

Statistical Highlights

• This match was the 1530th in Limited Over international (LOI) history.

• This match was Zimbabwe's 137th and Sri Lanka's 316th in LOIs.

• This match was the 20th meeting between the two sides.

• For the first time on Zimbabwean soil a LOI series of more than three matches have been played. Since 1992-93, six other series of three matches were played in Zimbabwe.

• Only once before Zimbabwe has played a bi-lateral LOI series of more then three match, when New Zealand hosted a five-match LOI series from 4--2-1998 to 8-3-1998.

• Ravindra Pushpakumara was making a come-back after missing 49 matches in between. He last played against Pakistan at Paarl on 9-4-1998 in the Standard Bank One-day tournament in South Africa.

• Playing in his 25th match, Stuart Carlisle recorded his maiden LOI hundred - an unbeaten 121. It was in fact his first score over fifty in LOIs. His previous highest score was the 43 against Bangladesh at Dhaka on 25-3-1999.

• It was the second highest score by a Zimbabwean against Sri Lanka and also the second highest by a Zimbabwean batsman at home. The highest remains as the unbeaten 131 by Alistair Campbell also against Sri Lanka at Harare on 18-12-1999.

• The partnership of 131 runs between Campbell and Carlisle was the third highest for Zimbabwe for the fourth wicket in LOIs. However it was the highest for this wicket at home. The previous highest was the 123 between Campbell and Gavin Rennie against New Zealand also at this venue on 4-10-1997.

• Chaminda Vaas' wicket of G Flower was his 17th against Zimbabwe. He now equals the tally of Muralitharan for the maximum wickets by a Sri Lankan bowler against Zimbabwe.

• Andy Flower during his innings of 53 in 30 balls reached his 50 in just 29 balls, which was the fastest fifty by a Zimbabwean batsman in LOIs.

• Pramodaya Wickremasinghe captured his 100th wicket of his career when he dismissed Andy Flower. Playing in is 123rd match, he becomes the fourth Sri Lankan after Muralitharan, Jayasuriya and Vaas; and the 51st bowler in LOI history to do so.

• Romesh Kaluwitharana became the eleventh batsman in LOI history to miss a hundred by just one run. He becomes the first Sri Lankan to do so. The previous highest score by a Sri Lankan in the nineties was 98 which was achieved twice by Roshan Mahanama (against India at Bombay, 17-1-1987) and Arjuna Ranatunga (also against India at Hyderabad, 18-2-1994).

• It was also the first such score against Zimbabwe. The previous highest score was the unbeaten 98 by Australian David Boon at Hobart (BO) on 8-12-1994. Just for the record, the previous highest score against Zimbabwe in the nineties by a Sri Lankan was by Aravinda deSilva, who had made an unbeaten 97 at this same venue on 5-11-1994.

• New Zealand's Stephen Fleming's 96 at Dhaka on 24-10-1998 was the previous highest "dismissed" score in the nineties against Zimbabwe.

• Kaluwitharana also became the second wicket-keeper to score a 99 in LOIs. Zimbabwe's Andy Flower (99*) against Australia at this same venue on 24-10-1999 was the other batsman to do so.

• Kaluwitharana's 99 in 86 balls was incidentally the second fastest 99 in the history of LOIs, after Australian Dean Jones' unbeaten 99 in 77 balls against Sri Lanka at Adelaide on 28-1-1985.

• The partnership of 144 runs between Kaluwitharana and Mahela Jayawardene was the highest by any team for the third wicket on Zimbabwean soil. The previous highest was also by Sri Lankans Roshan Mahanama and Aravinda deSilva when they added 122 at this same venue on 5-11-1994.

• This was Zimbabwe's eighth loss in the last nine matches, which includes one no-result match.

• Zimbabwe's poor run continues since its famous victory over South Africa in the 1999 World Cup at Chelmsford on 29-5-1999. In 15 matches since then, Zimbabwe has lost 12 and have won just a single match against Kenya at Nairobi on 25-9-1999 in the LG Cup tournament, while two of its matches were declared as no-result.

• Carlisle won his first ever Man of the match award in his 25th LOI match. Interestingly in the previous two matches in this series Sri Lankans Russel Arnold and Upul Chandana also received their maiden MOM award of their respective career.