• It was the 42nd match between the two sides. The record now reads: Australia 28, Sri Lanka 12, abandoned 2.
• Steve Waugh won toss after a sequence of seven consecutive toss losses.
• Umpires KT Francis and JV Jayasundra were officiating in their 55th and second match respectively.
• Australia has now played 10 matches in a row without facing defeat (this includes the tie match against South Africa at Birmingham on 17 Jun 1999). With this Australia has now equalled its best run in ODIs. Australia had not lost 10 consecutive matches from 23 Feb 90 to 02 May 1990.
• Chamara Silva was making his ODI debut. He became 101st player to represent Sri Lanka in ODIs. At 19 years 255 days he is the tenth youngest to make his debut for Sri Lanka in ODIs.
• By scoring 54, Chamara Silva became only the second Sri Lankan and 49th batsman in ODIs to score a fifty on debut. The following table lists all such instances in ODIs.

Score  Batsman                Countries    Venue           Date

148    DL Haynes              WI  v Aus    St John's       22 Feb 1978
115*   A Flower               Zim v SL     New Plymouth    23 Feb 1992
103    DL Amiss               Eng v Aus    Manchester      24 Aug 1972
102*   Salim Elahi            Pak v SL     Gujranwala      29 Sep 1995
90     SP Fleming             NZ  v Ind    Napier          25 Mar 1994
88     DW Randall             Eng v WI     Lord's          28 Aug 1976
84     KJ Barnett             Eng v SL     The Oval        04 Sep 1988
82*    CJ Tavare              Eng v WI     Leeds           28 May 1980
82     JH Edrich              Eng v Aus    Melbourne       05 Jan 1971
82     BP Patel               Ind v Eng    Leeds           13 Jul 1974
80*    GD Barlow              Eng v WI     Scarborough     26 Aug 1976
79     CT Radley              Eng v Pak    Manchester      24 May 1978
79     KC Wessels             Aus v NZ     Melbourne       09 Jan 1983
79     MH Dekker              Zim v NZ     Bulawayo        31 Oct 1992
76     BC Broad               Eng v Aus    Perth           01 Jan 1987
75     Ramiz Raja             Pak v NZ     Christchurch    06 Feb 1985
73     NS Sidhu               Ind v Aus    Chennai         09 Oct 1987
73     MJ Slater              Aus v SA     Melbourne       09 Dec 1993
70     MD Moxon               Eng v Ind    Nagpur          23 Jan 1985
70     Mazhar Hussain         UAE v Ind    Sharjah         13 Apr 1994
69*    DAG Fletcher           Zim v Aus    Nottingham      09 Jun 1983
67     AL Wadekar             Ind v Eng    Leeds           13 Jul 1974
66*    SM Pollock             SA  v Eng    Cape Town       09 Jan 1996
66     MH Denness             Eng v WI     Leeds           05 Sep 1973
65     SO Tikolo              Ken v Ind    Cuttack         18 Feb 1996
64     SM Patil               Ind v Aus    Melbourne       06 Dec 1980
64     R Lamba                Ind v Aus    Jaipur          07 Sep 1986
63*    JE Morris              Eng v NZ     Adelaide        01 Dec 1990
63     BC Hollioake           Eng v Aus    Lord's          25 May 1997
62     EH Mattis              WI  v Eng    Kingstown       04 Feb 1981
61     SC Williams            WI  v Ind    Faridabad       17 Oct 1994
60     IM Chappell            Aus v Eng    Melbourne       05 Jan 1971
59*    Yousuf Youhana         Pak v Zim    Harare          28 Mar 1998
58     Younis Ahmed           Pak v Ind    Calcutta        18 Feb 1987
57     R Edwards              Aus v Eng    Manchester      24 Aug 1972
57     AR Khurasiya           Ind v SL     Pune            30 Mar 1999
55     V Pollard              NZ  v Eng    Swansea         18 Jul 1973
55     RB Kanhai              WI  v Eng    Leeds           05 Sep 1973
55     PK Amre                Ind v SA     Calcutta        10 Nov 1991
55     SS Karim               Ind v SA     Bloemfontein    23 Jan 1997
54     BC Rose                Eng v Pak    Sahiwal         23 Dec 1977
54     LPC Chamara            SL  v Aus    Colombo RPS     26 Aug 1999
53*    SR de S Wettimuny      SL  v Aus    The Oval        11 Jun 1975
53     AJ Woodcock            Aus v NZ     Christchurch    31 Mar 1974
52     RO Butcher             Eng v Aus    Birmingham      22 Aug 1980
52     Ravindu Shah           Ken v BD     Hyderabad       17 May 1998
50     PV Simmons             WI  v Pak    Lahore          16 Oct 1987
50     GJ Crocker             Zim v Ind    Harare          25 Oct 1992
50     A Flintoff             Eng v Pak    Sharjah         07 Apr 1999

• Silva's innings is the highest by any Sri Lankan batsman on debut.The following table lists all Sri Lankan batsmen who made 25 or more runs on ODI debut:

54   LPC Chamara             v Aus   Colombo RPS       26 Aug 1999
53*  SR de S Wettimuny       v Aus   The Oval          11 Jun 1975
46   S Wettimuny             v Eng   Colombo SSC       13 Feb 1982
42   A Ranatunga             v Ens   Colombo SSC       14 Feb 1982
41   SK Ranasinghe           v Pak   Kandy             02 Mar 1986
37*  SKL de Silva            v Ind   Colombo SSC       18 Jul 1997
31   S Ranatunga             v Pak   Colombo RPS       03 Aug 1994
28   SHU Karnain             v NZ    Moratuwa          31 Mar 1984
25   RL Dias                 v NZ    Nottingham        09 Jun 1979
25   D Ranatunga             v Ind   Pune              05 Dec 1990

• Upul Chandana (34 runs and 3 for 35) provided the ninth instance of a Sri Lankan performing the allround feat of scoring 30 plus runs and capturing 3 or more wickets in the same match. Others to do so are : Sanath Jayasuriya (on four occasions), Aravinda DeSilva (on two occasions), Arjuna Ranatunga and Kumara Dharmasena. The details :

Performance     Allrounder      Opp     Venue             Date

55 & 3-41       A Ranatunga     v Aus   Melbourne       26 Dec 1989
49 & 3-35       ST Jayasuriya   v NZ    Auckland        01 Apr 1995
107* & 3-42     PA DeSilva      v Aus   Lahore          17 Mar 1996
33 & 3-15       ST Jayasuriya   v Pak   Sharjah         08 Nov 1996
79 & 3-26       ST Jayasuriya   v NZ    Christchurch    25 Mar 1997
44 & 5-58       ST Jayasuriya   v WI    Port-of-Spain   06 Jun 1997
69 & 3-46       HDPKD'sena      v SA    Lahore          06 Nov 1997
31 & 4-45       PA DeSilva      v Pak   Paarl           09 Apr 1998
34 & 3-35       UDU Chandana    v Aus   Colombo RPS     26 Aug 1999

• The eighth wicket partnership of 40 runs between Silva and Chandana is Sri Lanka's second best for this wicket against Australia after the 44 runs stand between ST Jayasuriya and RJ Ratnayake at Adelaide on 18 Feb 1990.
• This also equals the best partnership for eighth wicket by any side on Sri Lankan soil. DJ Nash and GE Bradburn had added 40 runs for the unbroken eighth wicket partnership for NewZealand against Sri Lanka at Colombo RPS on 12 Dec 1992. Incidentally Sri Lanka's previous best stand for eighth wicket on home soil was 35 runs between PA DeSilva and PB Dassanayake against South Africa at Colombo RPS on 04 Sep 1993.
• Mark Waugh won MoM award for the 17th time in his career. He thus equalled brother Steve's tally. Now only Allan Border (18) has won more awards than these two for Australia.

Contributed by: Rajneesh Gupta (rgcricket@hotmail.com)