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Statistical Highlights 1st match: Australia v Pakistan at Brisbane, 5-9 November, 1999

Mohandas Menon

• This match was the 1467th in Test history.

• This match was Australia's 598th and Pakistan's 259th in Tests.

• This match was the 44th meeting between the two sides.

• This match was the 42nd to be played at this venue. Pakistan was playing its 4th match at this venue.

• Adam Gilchrist and Scott Muller became the 381st and 382nd player to represent Australia in Tests. Gilchrist was making his Test debut after appearing in 76 LOI matches from 25-10-1996. He has now appeared in a Test after playing in maximum LOI matches. The earlier record was held by Pakistani Shahid Afridi who had appeared in 66 LOI matches before his debut Test match in October, 1998.

• Abdur Razzaq became Pakistan's 158th Test player. He has so far appeared in 31 LOI matches from 1-11-1996. Interestingly both Gilchrist and Razzaq had made their LOI debut during the same week in 1996.

• Australia was without Ian Healy for the first time since November, 1994 when Phil Emery kept wickets against Pakistan at Lahore. Since then Healy has appeared in 55 consecutive Test matches. Interestingly, prior to the Lahore match, Healy had appeared in 64 consecutive matches from his debut Test in 1988-89. This means that out of the 120 matches played from 1988-89 by Australia, Healy has missed just a single Test match.

• Steve Waugh was appearing in his 120th Test, which makes the second most capped player for Australia after Allan Border with 156 matches.

• The 61 by Moin Khan at number nine was the second highest at this position at this venue. The best still remains as the unbeaten 71 by Australian Damien Fleming against England in 1998-99.

• Michael Slater (169) when on 22 reached his 4000th run of his career in his 54th Test and 95th innings. He now becomes the 16th Australian and the 64th batsman in Test history to do so.

• The partnership of 269 between Slater and Greg Blewett was Australia's best against Pakistan. It betters the previous best of 176 between Slater and Mark Taylor at Rawalpindi in 1994-95. Just for the record, Australia's previous best for the first wicket against Pakistan at home was the 134 partnership between Ian Davis and Alan Turner at Melbourne in 1976-77.

• The Slater-Blewett partnership was also the 13th highest for the first wicket in Test history. Although it was Australia's third highest for the first wicket, it is now Australia's highest in a home Test. The previous highest was the 244 run partnership between Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson against England at Adelaide in 1965-66.

• Incidentally, the 269 run partnership was the highest ever for the first wicket against Pakistan in Tests. The previous highest was the 200 between Indians Sunil Gavaskar and K Srikkanth at Chennai in 1986-87.

• The partnership was also the best for the first wicket at this venue. It betters the previous best of an unbeaten 157 runs between Australians Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh against England in 1990-91.

• Ricky Ponting playing in his 29th Test and 45th innings and after 1661 runs recorded his first "duck" of his career.

• Adam Gilchrist's 81 just missed by one run the highest individual score by an Australian keeper on debut. The best now still remains as the 82 by AH (Affie) Jarvis against England at Melbourne way back in 1884-85.

• The last wicket stand of 86 runs between Shane Warne and Scott Muller was Australia's best against Pakistan. The previous best were the 52 achieved twice between Max Walker and Dennis Lillee at Sydney in 1976-77 and Geoff Lawson and Terry Alderman at Lahore in 1982-83.

• The partnership was also the best for the tenth wicket at this venue bettering the previous best of 56 between West Indians Joel Garner and Colin Croft in 1979-80.

• Shane Warne's 86 was not only his highest Test score but his highest in first-class cricket. His previous highest first-class score was the unbeaten 74 against New Zealand in 1993-94 at this same venue - at Brisbane.

• The 194 runs conceded in 38 overs by Mushtaq Ahmed was the fourth maximum by a Pakistani bowler in Tests. It was the maximum conceded by a Pakistani against Australia. The previous highest was by Azeem Hafeez when he conceded 167 runs at Adelaide in 1983-84.

• Among bowlers now only Sri Lankan Muthiah Muralitharan (224) at Perth in 1995-96 and Englishman Ian Peebles (204) at The Oval in 1930 have conceded more runs than Mushtaq against Australia in Tests.

• The 41 extras was the maximum conceded by Pakistan against Australia in an innings. The previous highest was the 39 it conceded at Sydney in 1972-73. Incidentally it was the fourth maximum extras conceded at this venue and the maximum by any visiting team. England had conceded 36 in 1978-79.

• The 26 "no-balls" was also the maximum conceded by Pakistan against Australia. The previous highest was the 20 "no-balls" it conceded at Melbourne in 1989-90.

• The total of 575 by Australia just fell short by ten runs of its highest against Pakistan at home. The highest still remains as 585 at Adelaide in 1972-73.

• On the fourth day 168 runs were scored before lunch in just two hours of play. Australia moved from its overnight 515-9 to 575, while Pakistan at lunch reached 108-3. This perhaps was the maximum runs scored before lunch (in a two hour session) in Australia. Just for the record, the maximum runs scored before lunch was 208-2 by Australia against South Africa at Lord's in 1912. Australia had taken the score from 86-2 to 294-4 before lunch on the second day.

• Damien Fleming (5-59 in the second innings) captured his 50th wicket of his career in his 14th match, when he claimed the wicket of Inzamamul Haq. He becomes the 56th Australian and the 251st bowler in Test cricket to do so.

• The partnership of 177 runs between Saeed Anwar and Yousuf Youhana was Pakistan's best for the fourth wicket against Australia. It obliterates the previous best of 155 between Zaheer Abbas and Mansoor Akhtar at Faisalabad in 1982-83. Youhana was also involved in a 152 run partnership for the same wicket in the first innings with Inzamamul Haq.

• Yousuf Youhana thus became the first Pakistani to be involved in two 100-plus partnerships for the fourth wicket in either innings of the same Test match. He infact becomes the only second batsman after Australian Doug Walters to be involved in two 150-plus partnerships for the fourth wicket in the same Test match. Walters had put on 336 (with Bill Lawry) and 210 (with Ian Redpath) for the fourth wicket against the West Indies at Sydney in 1968-69.

• Glenn McGrath's four wickets in the match takes his tally of wickets to 49 for this calendar year in 10 matches. He joins India's Anil Kumble to become the bowler with maximum wickets in Tests in 1999.

• It was Australia's 24th 10-wicket victory in Tests and its third against Pakistan. It was Pakistan's eight such loss in Test and its third against Australia. Incidentally it was Pakistan second ten-wicket loss at this venue. It had lost by a similar margin in 1981-82.