• This was the 2028th One-day International match in cricket history.
• This was England’s 375th and Zimbabwe’s 235th match.
• This was the 23rd match between these two sides. The record now reads : England 15, Zimbabwe 8.
• Robert Key and Richard Johnson were making debut for England. They became 177th and 178th player to represent England in ODIs.
• The wicket of Marcus Trescothick was 200th for Heath Streak in his 162nd match. He became first Zimbabwean and 17th overall to reach this milestone.
• Richard Johnson took a wicket off his second ball in ODIs when he had Dion Ebrahim caught in the slip by Flintoff. Johnson joined the selected band of 72 bowlers who had taken a wicket in their first over in ODIs. The list comprises of 12 Indians, 11 Pakistanis,9 New Zealanders, 8 Englishmen, 7 West Indians, 7 Sri Lankans,5 Australians, 4 Zimbabweans, 3 South Africans, 2 Kenyans and one each from Bangladesh, Kenya,Canada and UAE.The following table lists the English bowlers who took a wicket in their very first over in the ODIs :

  Ball  Bowler (Victim)             Countries   Venue          Date
  1st   GG Arnold (GD Watson)       Eng v Aus   Manchester     24-08-1972
  2nd   DW Randall (TJ Laughlin)    Eng v Aus   Sydney         11-12-1979
  6th   D Gough (MD Crowe)          Eng v NZ    Birmingham     19-05-1994
        D Lloyd (Wasim Raja)        Eng v Pak   The Oval       26-05-1978
  1st   R Clarke (Imran Nazir)      Eng v Pak   Manchester     17-06-2003
  5th   PJ Martin (SL Campbell)     Eng v WI    The Oval       26-05-1995
  6th   CEW Silverwood (GW Flower)  Eng v Zim   Bulawayo QSC   15-12-1996
  2nd   R Johnson (DD Ebrahim)      Eng v Zim   Nottingham     26-06-2003
  Note : Details of Lloyd’s wicket-taking delivery is not available.
  

• Grant Flower (96*) became a victim of the nervous ninety for the eighth time in his career. He is now one short of equalling Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva’s world record of nine scores in ninety. India’s Sachin Tendulkar has also eight scores in 90s.
• Grant Flower has now aggregated 732 runs from 23 matches against England which makes him the leading run-scorer for Zimbabwe against England. He moved ahead of brother Andy who has aggregated 691 runs from 22 matches against England.
• The fifth wicket partnership of 96 runs between Flower and Matsikenyeri is Zimbabwe’s best for this wicket against England obliterating the previous record stand of 89 between Flower brothers at Lord’s on 22-07-2000.
• Grant Flower was winning his 12th Man of the match award in his 204th match

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)