• Bangladesh’s total of 108 is its lowest in a World Cup match. Their previous lowest was 116 against New Zealand at Chelmsford in 1999.
• The total is also Bangladesh's lowest ever against South Africa. Their previous lowest was 133 at Potchefstroom in 2002.
• Makhaya Ntini's 4-24 (in 7.1 overs) equals the best bowling performance by a South African bowler against Bangladesh. Shaun Pollock had identical figures in 9 overs against the Bangladeshis at Kimberley in 2002.
• Gary Kirsten (52 not out) raced to his fifty off just 30 balls. This is the quickest fifty made by a South African batsman in the World Cup. The previous fastest by a South African in the World Cup was by Jacques Kallis who took 36 balls for his fifty during his knock of 53 not out against New Zealand at Birmingham in 1999.
• Kirsten’s fifty equals the quickest achieved in this World Cup. Earlier in the tournament, West Indian Ricardo Powell had also made a 30-ball fifty against Bangladesh at Benoni.
• Kirsten scored 42 runs out of his 52 (not out) in boundaries (nine fours and a six) – a boundary percentage of 80.76. This is the third highest boundary percentage for any batsman in World Cup matches after Sanath Jayasuriya’s 85.36 (v England at Faisalabad in 1996) and Aravinda de Silva’s 84.84 (v India at Kolkata also in 1996).
• Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten have now been involved in nine century partnerships for the opening wicket which takes them past Australian pair of Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist who were involved in eight century partnerships. Now only India’s Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar (16 century partnerships) and West Indies’ Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes (15 century partnerships) are ahead of Gibbs and Kirsten duo.
• This was the fourth time Gibbs and Kirsten were getting involved in a century partnership for the opening wicket. This makes them the most successful pair for any wicket in World Cup history. Pakistan’s Rameez Raja & Javed Miandad and Sri Lanka’s Asanka Gurusinha & Aravinda de Silva were involved in three century partnerships – both for third wicket.
• South Africa’s run-rate of 9.08 is the highest achieved in World Cup matches second only to Australia’s 9.13 also against Bangladesh at Chester-le-Street in 1999.
• South Africa recorded their second ten-wicket win in this World Cup. They had earlier beaten Kenya at Potchefstroom by the same margin.
• The ten-wicket win was the sixth achieved by a team in the World Cup. South Africa becomes the second team after the West Indies to achieve this on two occasions in the World Cup. The West Indies did this in 1983 and 1992, while for South Africa it was its second such win in the ongoing tournament.
• This was the fourth time that South Africa won a match by 10 wickets. They have done so twice against Bangladesh and once each against India and Kenya.
• Bangladesh now has the dubious distinction of being the only team in the World Cup to lose a match by 10 wickets on two occasions! Sri Lanka had won by the same margin against Bangladesh a week ago at Pietermaritzburg on 14-2-2003.
• The ten-wicket defeat meant Bangladesh has not won for a World record 30- ODIs in a row, spreading over four years and all the way back to the 1999 World Cup. Of those, 28 were defeats (including a world record 23 in a row) with the others two rained off.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)