• This match was the 2082nd One-Day International in cricket history.
• The first wicket partnership of 140 runs between Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden is Australia’s best for this wicket against Zimbabwe surpassing the 98 run partnership between Gilchrist and Mark Waugh at Sydney on 28-01-2001.
• Gilchrist (172 off 126 balls) recorded the highest score by a wicketkeeper in ODIs bettering his own 154 (off 129 balls) made against Sri Lanka at Melbourne on 07-02-1999. Gilchrist now has five highest scores out of the top 10 made by wicketkeepers on his name.
• Gilchrist’s innings is also the tenth joint highest by a batsman in game’s history and the second highest for Australia. He missed the highest score by an Australian by just one run. The record is still held by Mark Waugh who made 173 runs (off 148 balls) against West Indies at Melbourne on 09-02-2001.
• Gilchrist’s 150 came off just 110 balls which is the fastest by any batsman in ODIs. The previous record was on the name of West Indian Brian Lara, who needed 111 balls for his 150 against Sri Lanka in a Champions Trophy match at Sharjah on 16-10-1995.
• Gilchrist completed his 6000 runs when his score reached 150. He became 28th batsman overall and seventh from Australia after Mark Waugh (8500 runs in 244 matches), Steve Waugh (7569 in 325), Ricky Ponting (6658 in 188), Michael Bevan (6645 in 223), Allan Border (6524 in 273) and Dean Jones (6068 in 164) to do so. At the end of this match, Gilchrist has aggregated 6022 runs in 174 innings of 180 matches at an average of 35.85 with 10 hundreds and 34 fifties.
• Gilchrist also completed his 2000 runs in world series matches in Australia. He became 11th batsman in the process to do so.
• Gilchrist’s innings is the highest for Australia against Zimbabwe obliterating Ricky Ponting’s 145 (off 157 balls) at Delhi on 11-04-1998.
• The hundred was Gilchrist’s fifth in world series matches in Australia which equals the tally of Ricky Ponting. Now only one batsman – Mark Waugh (8) has scored more hundreds than Gilchrist in these matches.
• This was the second time Gilchrist was making a score of 150 or more. He has now joined five other batsmen who have also scored 150 on two occasions. They are : Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar from India, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle from West Indies and Sanath Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka. Incidentally West Indian Viv Richards is the only batsman to have made scores of 150 or more on three occasions.
• The wicket of Ricky Ponting was 100th for Grant Flower in ODIs. Flower became second Zimbabwean after Heath Streak (216 wickets in 175 matches) and 69th bowler overall to reach this landmark. By taking 212 matches to accomplish this feat Flower became the third slowest to do so. Only Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva (303) and India’s Sachin Tendulkar (268) have taken more matches than Flower to complete their 100 wickets.
• Australia’s total (344-7) is their highest against Zimbabwe and fourth highest against all countries. Their previous highest against Zimbabwe was 303 made on two occasions – at Lord’s on 09-06-1999 (for the loss of four wickets) and at Bulawayo QSC on 21-10-1999 (for the loss of six wickets).
• The win by 148 runs is Australia’s biggest ever against Zimbabwe. They had beaten Zimbabwe by 128 runs at this same ground on 14-03-1992.
• Gilchrist won his 16th man of the match award. With this he equalled Dean Jones’ tally of MoM awards. Now only Mark Waugh (22), Steve Waugh (21), Allan Border (18) and Ricky Ponting (17) have won more awards than Gilchrist for Australia.

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Rajneesh Gupta)