• Veteran Aravinda de Silva was appearing in his fifth World Cup. He had played in 1987, 1992, 1996 and 1999 World Cups. De Silva became third player to take part in five World Cups after Pakistan’s Imran Khan and former teammate Arjuna Ranatunga. However Javed Miandad of Pakistan is the only player to have appeared in six World Cups.
• Stephen Fleming was captaining New Zealand for the tenth time in World Cup – a new New Zealand record. He was earlier at level with Martin Crowe with nine matches.Incidentally India’s Mohammad Azharuddin –with 23 matches- holds the record of captaining his side in most matches in World Cup.
• Sanath Jayasuriya (120) scored his first World Cup century in his fourth tournament and the 16th of his 288-match career.
• The hundred was Jayasuriya’s fourth against New Zealand. He has now joined Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar in scoring maximum hundreds against that country.
• When on 7, Jayasuriya became fifth batsman to aggregate 4000 runs as a captain. The others are Arjuna Ranatunga (5606 runs), Mohammad Azharuddin (5239), Allan Border (4439) and Hansie Cronje (4070).
• Jayasuriya is on a roll in the year 2003. He has now aggregated 452 runs in five innings this year at an average of 90.40. His sequence of score in the year 2003 read as : 122, 105, 6, 99….and now 120.
• The second wicket partnership of 170 runs between Jayasuriya and Hashan Tillakaratne is Sri Lanka’s best for this wicket in World Cup. The pair obliterated the 101 run-partnership between Jayasuriya and Asanka Gurusinha against England in 1996.
• This also equals Sri Lanka’s all-time record partnership for the second wicket in all matches. Sidath Wettimuny and Roy Dias had added identical 170 runs against India at Delhi in 1982-83
• Tillakaratne (81*) scored his first fifty since being recalled to the side after a three-year absence.
• Scott Styris (141) scored his maiden ODI hundred in 52nd match. His previous highest was 85 against West Indies at Gros Islet in 2002.
• Styris innings is the highest for New Zealand against Sri Lanka in all matches. This obliterates Glenn Turner’s 140 at Auckland in 1983.
• Styris’ innings included as many as six sixes. He thus became third New Zealander to hit six sixes in a match after Lance Cairns and his son Chris Cairns. Chris has, infact, performed this feat on two occasions.
• Styris’ innings contributed 62.66 % in New Zealand’s total – the second highest by any batsman in World Cup history. The record is held by India’s Kapil Dev whose 175* made 69.49 % of India’s total in the match against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells in 1983
• The Man of the Match award was 36th for Jayasuriya. Only one player – India’s Sachin Tendulkar- has won more awards than Jayasuriya in shorter version of the game.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)