Scorecard: | England v South Africa |
- This was the 1653rd Test in cricket history.
- Michael Vaughan became 74th player to captain England in a Test match.
- Graeme Smith (became only the fourth batsman in cricket annals to score double centuries in two successive Tests when he notched up an unbeaten 214 on the second day of Lords Test. Smith had earlier scored 277 & 85 in the Birmingham Test.
Australian legend Don Bradman had performed this feat on three separate occasions in 1930,1934 and 1936-37. Earlier to that, Wally Hammond of England had performed this feat on two separate occasions- in 1928-29 and 1932-33. The last batsman before Smith to perform this feat was Indias Vinod Kambli passed 200 in successive matches in 1992-93. Kambli, incidentally, is the only batsman in this elite group to score his double centuries against two different countries. All others performed this feat against one specific country.Batsman Scores Opponents Venue Season WR Hammond (Eng) 251 v Australia Sydney 1928-29 200 & 32 v Australia Melbourne 1928-29 DG Bradman (Aus) 254 & 1 v England Lord's 1930 334 v England Leeds 1930 WR Hammond (Eng) 227 v New Zealand Christchurch 1932-33 336* v New Zealand Auckland 1932-33 DG Bradman (Aus) 304 v England Leeds 1934 244 & 77 v England The Oval 1934 DG Bradman (Aus) 13 & 270 v England Melbourne 1936-37 26 & 212 v England Adelaide 1936-37 VG Kambli (Ind) 224 v England Bombay 1992-93 227 v Zimbabwe Delhi 1992-93 GC Smith (SA) 277 & 85 v England Birmingham 2003 214* v England Lord's 2003
- Smith,when scored his first run, completed his 1000 runs in Test cricket. By taking only 17 innings, he became the fastest South African to reach this landmark. Eddie Barlow had held the previous record (21 innings). However Smith is second fastest among South Africans in terms of least matches (12) after Eddie Barlow (11).
- Smiths innings is the highest by any overseas player at Lords beating Don Bradmans 254 against England in 1930.
- At the end of second Test, Smith has aggregated 621 runs in only three innings of the series which is a world record, beating the 599 in three innings by Gary Sobers against Pakistan in 1957-58. His total also equalled Dudley Nourses 621 against England in 1947, but Nourse took 5 Test matches to get to that total.
- Flintoffs 142 is the highest individual innings at number seven for a losing side. The details :
Batsman Runs For Vs Venue Series A Flintoff 142 Eng SA Lord's 2003 SM Nurse 137 WI Aus Sydney 1968-69 M Leyland 137 Eng Aus Melbourne 1928-29 AC Gilchrist 133 Aus Eng Sydney 2002-03 RS Kaluwitharana 132* SL Aus Colombo SSC 1992-93 Kapil Dev 129 Ind SA Port Elizabeth 1992-93 HGO Owen-Smith 129 SA Eng Leeds 1929 RC Russell 128* Eng Aus Manchester 1989
- South Africas total of 682 for six dec. is their highest in all Tests. This expunges the previous record total of 622 for nine against Australia at Durban in 1969-70.
- South Africas total is the ninth highest total in Test cricket for a visiting side. Interestingly out of top ten such totals, seven have been recorded in England and three in West Indies. Till date, only one side has not let the opponents make 600 runs in an innings in its home territory (and abroad as well for that matter). It is Bangladesh !
The accompanying table lists the top ten scores by touring sides in Test cricket :
Total For Vs Venue Season 849 England West Indies Kingston 1929-30 758-8d Australia West Indies Kingston 1954-55 729-6d Australia England Lord's 1930 708 Pakistan England The Oval 1987 701 Australia England The Oval 1934 695 Australia England The Oval 1930 692-8d West Indies England The Oval 1995 687-8d West Indies England The Oval 1976 682-6d South Africa England Lord's 2003 668 Australia West Indies Bridgetown 1954-55
- English bowlers and fielders conceded as many as 64 extras in South Africas only innings- joint fourth highest in an innings in Test cricket. The world record is of 71 extras conceded by West Indies against Pakistan at Georgetown in 1987-88.
- Nasser Hussain completed his 5000 runs in Test cricket just before he got out in second innings. He was playing his 85th match and 150th innings. Hussain became 15th Englishman and 53rd batsman overall to do so.
- Flintoff scored 102 runs of his 142 in boundaries only 18 fours and five sixes ,that is, a boundary percentage of 71.83. This is the highest for England against South Africa in all century knocks. The previous record was on the name of Graeme Hick who scored 70.92 % of his runs in boundaries during his innings of 141 at Centurion in 1995-96.
- Mkhaya Ntini became first South African to bag 10 wickets in a match at Lords. The previous best figures for South Africa at Lords was 9 for 103 by Xenophon Balaskas in 1935.
(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)
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