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Statistical Highlights 31st match: India v Australia at The Oval on 4-6-1999

Mohandas Menon

• This match was the 1473rd in Limited over international (LOI) history.

• This match was the 189th in World Cup history.

• This match was India's 403rd and Australia's 431st in LOIs. Australia has now appeared in maximum LOIs than any other country. Pakistan is just behind with 430 matches.

• This match was India's 42nd and Australia's 43rd in the WC.

• It was the their 55th meeting in LOIs and their seventh in the WC.

• This match was the 24th LOI and the 9th in the WC to be played at this venue.

• This venue had hosted the England-South Africa WC encounter o22-5-1999.

• Mark Waugh's 83 was the highest by an Australian so far in this WC. Interestingly, in the last WC match played between the two sides at Mumbai on 27-2-1996, he had scored 126 runs.

• Mark Waugh during his above innings, when on 41, became the highest scorer for Australia in the WC. He surpassed the previous record of 815 runs in 16 matches by David Boon. Waugh was playing in his 18th match and has so far scored 858 runs.

• Steve Waugh (36) when on 35, reached his 6000th run in his 264th match. He becomes the fourth Australian batsman after Allan Border (6524 runs in 273 matches), Mark Waugh (6490 in 187) and Dean Jones (6068 in 164) and the 16th batsman in LOI history to do so.

• By taking 264 matches and 240 innings to achieve this milestone Steve Waugh has taken the maximum matches and innings than any other batsman in LOI history. Fellow Australian Allan Border had needed 247 matches and 229 innings to achieve his landmark in 1992-93.

• The 44 run partnership between Michael Bevan and Tom Moody was Australia's best against India for the sixth wicket in the WC. It surpasses the previous highest of 32 between Dean Jones and Allan Border at Brisbane in the 1992 WC.

• Australia's total of 282-6 was the second highest total made at this venue in a 50-over match. The best remains as the 291-8 by England against ..... guess who?.... India on 23-5-1996, which incidentally was the last occasion the Indians played at this venue. Just for information, no team had ever won a 50-over match in England chasing Australia's total of 282 runs.

• It was Sachin Tendulkar's tenth duck of his career in his 216th match and his first in the WC after 20 matches.It was also Tendulkar's first duck against the Australians in 22 matches.

• The partnership of 141 runs between Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh was India's second best for the fifth wicket in LOIs against any country. The best still remains as the record 223 runs between M Azharuddin and Jadeja against Sri Lanka at Colombo on 17-8-1997. The pair also surpassed India's best for this wicket against Australia which was the 121 between Jadeja and Hrishikesh Kanitkar at Kochi on 1-4-1998.

• It was also India's best for the fifth wicket against any team in the WC. The previous best was the 66 runs between Sanjay Manjrekar & Mohd. Azharuddin also against Australia at Brisbane in the 1992 WC. The pair of Jadeja and Robin however just missed the all time WC record for the fifth wicket which was the 148 runs put on by the Kiwi pair of Roger Twose and Chris Cairns at Cardiff during this tournament on 20-5-1999.

• The 21 runs conceded by Shane Warne to Robin Singh (6,2,6,1) and Ajay Jadeja (6,0) was the maximum by any Australian bowler in an over in the WC.

• Steve Waugh's wicket of Kumble was his 27th in the WC in 30 matches. He now equals the record of Craig McDermott - the maximum wickets by an Australian in the World Cup.

• Adam Gilchrist's four catches equals the maximum by an Australian keeper in the WC. Greg Dyer against Pakistan at Lahore in the 1987 WC was the only other Australian keeper to do so.

• Gilchrist also joins Rodney Marsh (at Sydney on 8-1-1981) and Wayne Phillips (at Dehi on 28-9-1984) to take maximum dismissals by an Australian keeper against India in LOIs.

• Jadeja's unbeaten 100 was the highest by any Indian batsman against Australia in the WC. The previous highest was the 93 by Azharuddin at Brisbane in the 1996 WC. • The hundred was the 14th at this venue and the first by an Indian. The previous highest was the unbeaten 83 by Azharuddin against England on 24-5-1986.

• The Indians have in all scored five hundreds in this WC. It is the maximum scored by any team in a WC tournament. Australia had four hundreds in 1996.

• The loss by 77 runs was India's biggest in terms of runs in a 50-over WC match and its third largest in any WC match.

• It was Australia's first victory over the Indians after losing the last two at Sharjah on 24-4-1998 (by 6 wickets) and at Dhaka on 28-10-1998 (by 44 runs).

• It was Australia's third consecutive victory against India in the WC. The last occasion the Indians beat the Australians in the WC was at Delhi way back in October, 1987. They had won by 56 runs.

• Glenn McGrath won his fourth Man of the match award of his career. McGrath had also won the an award against West Indies at Manchester during this WC on 30-5-1999.

• Post-script : This was perhaps the first international match which saw the demise of two pigeons which were struck by the ball thrown from the out-field. Curiously enough, on both occasions the fielder was Paul Reiffel.