It was the 1556th Test match in cricket history
Rajneesh Gupta22-Aug-2001It was the 1556th Test match in cricket history.It was England’s 785th and Australia’s 618th match- 300th betweenthese two sides.It was the 400th Test match on English soil.Simon Katich was making his Test debut for Australia. He became 384thplayer to represent Australia.David Shepherd and Srinivas Venkataraghavan were officiating in their57th and 47th Test respectively.Talat Ali,the former Pakistani Testcricketer, was officiating as ICC match referee for the ninth time inhis career.Adam Gilchrist, who was captaining Australia in place of injured SteveWaugh, became only second wicketkeeper to lead Australia on more thanone occasion after Jack Blackham who captained Australia in eightmatches. Gilchrist’s other assignment as Australia’s skipper wasagainst West Indies at Adelaide in December 2000.Australia went on towin that match by five wickets.When he scored 12 in first innings, Mark Waugh reached 2000 runs inTests against England. He was playing his 28th Ashes Test (and 50thinnings). He became the 26th batsman and 15th Australian to reach thislandmark.Incidentally Don Bradman heads the table with 5028 runs fromjust 37 Tests and 63 innings against England.When he caught Shane Warne, Alec Stewart moved ahead of Wasim Bari(228 dismissals) to become fifth most successful wicketkeeper in Testhistory. At the end of this match, Stewart has 231 dismissals to hisname (including 36 catches when not keeping wicket). Now only IanHealy (395 dismissals in 119 matches), Rod Marsh (355 in 96), JeffDujon (272 in 81) and Alan Knott (269 in 95) have made more dismissalsthan Stewart.The duck in first innings was 25th for Shane Warne in his 91st Test.Now only Courtney Walsh (43) and Curtley Ambrose (26) are ahead ofWarne in all Tests.The wicket of Alan Mullally was 350th for Glenn McGrath. He becamethird Australian after Shane Warne and Dennis Lillee and 11th bowleroverall to do so. By taking 74 Tests for his 350 wickets, McGrathbecame third quickest after Richard Hadlee (69) and Dennis Lillee (70)to accomplish this feat. However McGrath is second quickest in termsof balls taken as he needed 17581 balls for his 350 wickets(calculated upto the end of the innings). West Indian Malcolm Marshallremains the fastest having taken only 16340 balls for his 350 wickets.McGrath (7-76) was achieving a five wicket haul against England inEngland for the fifth time. His first was 8 for 38 at Lord’s in1997,followed by 7 for 76 at The Oval in 1997,5 for 54 at Lord’s and 5for 49 at Nottingham in this series.Among Australian bowlers ,McGrath’s performances in England put him level with Charlie Turnerand Ray Lindwall behind the six of Dennis Lillee , the seven ofClarrie Grimmett and the nine of Terry AldermanOverall this was McGrath’s 21st five wicket haul in a Test inningswhich puts him at level with Clarrie Grimmett. Now only Dennis Lillee(23) is ahead of McGrath for Australia.When England scored 309 in first innings, it was the first timeEngland reached 300 in this series and after nine innings againstAustralia at home. The last time England scored 300 against Australiawas at Nottingham in 1997,the fifth Test of that series.When Mike Atherton fell to Glenn McGrath in England’s second innings ,he equalled a world record, though of dubious nature. Atherton has nowfallen to McGrath on 18 occasions which puts him at level withAustralia’s Arthur Morris who was a bunny of England’s Alec Bedser.Interestingly Atherton has also been dismissed on 17 occasion apieceby West Indians Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose. The followingtable lists batsmen who have been dismissed on 15 or more occasionsoff the bowling of a particular bowler.
Occasions
Batsman
Bowler
18
Arthur Morris (Aus)
Alec Bedser (Eng)
18
Mike Atherton (Eng)
Glenn McGrath (Aus)
17
Mike Atherton (Eng)
Courtney Walsh (WI)
17
Mike Atherton (Eng)
Curtley Ambrose (WI)
16
Graham Gooch (Eng)
Malcolm Marshall (WI)
15
Ian Healy (Aus)
Courtney Walsh (WI)
15
Mark Waugh (Aus)
Curtley Ambrose (WI)
The third wicket partnership of 181 runs between Mark Butcher andNasser Hussain was England’s best for this wicket against Australia atHeadingley. This obliterated the previous best of 155 between BillEdrich and Alec Bedser in 1948.England’s 315 for 4 was the second-highest total it has ever made towin a Test, after its 332 for 7 at Melbourne in 1928-29, and itshighest at home. The following table lists the highest fourth inningstotals to win a Test match.Total
Teams
Venue
Season
406-4
India v West Indies
Port-of-Spain
1975-76
404-3
Australia v England
Leeds
1948
369-6
Australia v Pakistan
Hobart
1999-00
362-7
Australia v West Indies
Georgetown
1977-78
348-5
West Indies v New Zealand
Auckland
1968-69
344-1
West Indies v England
Lord’s
1984
342-8
Australia v India
Perth
1977-78
336-5
Australia v South Africa
Durban
1949-50
332-7
England v Australia
Melbourne
1928-29
326-5
Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
Colombo SSC
1997-98
324-5
New Zealand v Pakistan
Christchurch
1993-94
317-2
West Indies v Pakistan
Georgetown
1957-58
315-4
England v Australia
Leeds
2001
315-6
Australia v England
Adelaide
1901-02
315-9
Pakistan v Australia
Karachi
1994-95
311-9
West Indies v Australia
Bridgetown
1998-99
307-6
England v New Zealand
Christchruch
1996-97
England provided only the eighth instance of a side winning a Testmatch following a declaration by the other team. The details :England (75-6) beat West Indies (51-6d)
Bridgetown
1934-35
Australia (404-3) beat England (365-8d)
Leeds
1948
England (174-7) beat South Africa (187-3d)
Port Elizabeth
1948-49
England (215-3) beat West Indies (92-2d)
Port-of-Spain
1967-68
West Indies (348-5) beat New Zealand (297-8d)
Auckland
1968-69
Australia (342-8) beat India (330-9d)
Perth
1977-78
West Indies (344-1) beat England (300-9d)
Lord’s
1984
England (251-8d) beat South Africa (0-0d)
Centurion
1999-00
England (315-4d) beat Australia (176-4d)
Leeds
2001
Brett Lee ended on the losing side for the first time in his11 Test career. He thus missed the opportunity of extending hisrecord of always being a part of a winning side since his debut. West Indian Eldine Baptiste was the other player who was part of a winning team in all his first 10 matches.The defeat was Australia’s only third in last 24 matches.Australia hasnow played in 22 consecutive `result’ matches – no draws which equalsEngland’s all time Test record of most consecutive matches by a sidewithout a draw. England had played in 22 consecutive result orientedmatches ,winning 17 and losing five from Adelaide 1884-85 to Adelaide1891-92.Mark Butcher was winning Man of the Match award for the second time inhis career. His only other award had come against South Africa at thissame ground in 1998.