• The catch of Grant Flower was 15th for by Chris Cairns in the World Cup in 26 matches. Cairns, now, has taken most catches as a fielder in World Cup history. He moved ahead of India’s Anil Kumble and Australia’s Ricky Ponting who have taken 14 catches each.
• Andy Flower got run-out for the 20th time in his career, which equals brother Grant Flower’s tally for Zimbabwe.
• The 68 run partnership between Tatendu Taibu and Heath Streak was Zimbabwe’s best for the seventh wicket against New Zealand in ODIs bettering the previous best of 42 runs between Gavin Rennie and Streak at Wellington in 2001.
• Playing in his 26th match, Taibu (53) registered the highest score of his career. His previous best was the 35 against Pakistan at Bulawayo in 2002.
• At 19 years 298 days, Taibu became the youngest keeper in World Cup history to score a fifty. Sri Lankan Brendon Kuruppu was 21 years 155 days when he scored a 72 against Pakistan at Swansea in 1983.
• The unbeaten 78 run partnership between Steak and Sean Ervine was the best partnership for the 8th wicket at this ground surpassing the previous best of 37 runs, by a long way, between South Africans Jonty Rhodes and Eric Simons against Sri Lanka in 1994.
• Streak’s 72 not out was the highest by any number 8 batsman in the World Cup. West Indian Deryck Murray’s unbeaten 61 against Pakistan at Birmingham in 1975, was the previous highest.
• 62 runs were added to Zimbabwe’s total in the last three overs – 23 off the 48th, 13 off 49th and 26 off 50th. Streak scored 35 runs (off 12 balls) and Ervine scored 25 runs (off 8 balls) during this onslaught.
• Ervine scored 31 runs off 14 balls (SR 221.43). His scoring rate is the highest by any Zimbabwean batsman in World Cup cricket. The previous record was on the name of Heath Streak who scored an unbeaten 44 off just 22 balls (SR 200.00) against Holland in this World Cup on February 28.
• Ervine’s scoring rate is the second highest for Zimbabwe in all ODIs for a batsman facing at least 10 balls. The record, however, is on the name of Douglas Marillier who hit an unbeaten 56 off 24 balls (SR 233.33) against India at Faridabad in 2002.
• Nathan Astle (unbeaten 102) scored 13th hundred of his career. This was Astle’s second hundred in the World Cup in 20 matches. His first (101) came against England at Ahmedabad during the 1996 World Cup. He has now equalled Glenn Turner’s tally of most hundreds in the World Cup for New Zealand.
• By winning his 20th Man of the Match award, Astle has equalled Martin Crowe’s record of most MoM awards for New Zealand in a career. However Crowe played only 143 matches as against Astle’s 172.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)