• This was the 124th Test match between these two sides. The record now reads : England 51, South Africa 25, drawn 48
• Kabir Ali and Monde Zondeki were making their Test debut. They became 618th and 292nd player to represent England and South Africa respectively.
• Martin Bicknell was making a comeback into English side after about 10 years. He had last appeared for England against Australia at Birmingham in 1993. Bicknell thus missed 114 matches between his two appearances which is a new world record. Pakistan’s Younis Ahmed was the previous record holder as he missed 104 matches between his two consecutive Test appearances.
• Kabir Ali took a wicket off his fifth ball in Test cricket when he had Neil McKenzie caught by wicketkeeper Stewart.
• Monde Zondeki’s 59 is the third highest by a number nine batsman on debut after India’s Balwinder Sandhu’s 71 vs Pakistan at Hyderabad in 1982-83 and England’s Darren Gough’s 65 vs New Zealand at Manchester in 1994.
• The eighth wicket partnership of 150 runs between Gary Kirsten and Monde Zondeki equalled South Africa’s highest for this wicket against all countries. Neil McKenzie and Shaun Pollock had also added 150 runs against Sri Lanka at Centurion in 2000-01. Incidentally South Africa’s previous record partnership for this wicket against England was 119 between Lance Klusener and Mark Boucher at Port Elizabeth in 1999-00.
• The above partnership was also the highest for eighth wicket for a visiting side on English soil. This obliterated the 130-run partnership between the Pakistani pair of Hanif Mohammad and Asif Iqbal at Lord’s in 1967.
• Jack Rudolph took a wicket off his second ball in Test cricket, albeit in his sixth Test, when he had Nasser Hussain caught and bowled in the first innings.
• The catch of Mark Butcher in first innings was 250th wicketkeeping dismissal for Mark Boucher. He became first South African and fifth wicketkeeper in Test cricket to reach this milestone. By taking just 64 matches to accomplish this feat, he also became the fastest to do so. Australia’s Rodney Marsh previously held this record as he completed his 250 dismissals in his 67th Test.
• The above dismissal was also the 57th wicketkeeping dismissal for Mark Boucher in his 14th Test against England. With this he became the most successful wicketkeeper for South Africa against England moving ahead of Johnny Waite who had 56 dismissals to his credit from 21 appearances.
• Andrew Hall became only the fifth batsman in Test history to remain not out on 99. The others are England’s Geoff Boycott (v Australia at Perth in 1979-80), Australia’s Steve Waugh (vs England at Perth in 1994-95), England’s Alex Tudor (v New Zealand at Birmingham in 1999) and fellow countryman Shaun Pollock (v Sri Lanka at Centurion in 2002-03).
• Jacques Kallis’ second innings figures of six for 54 and match figures of nine for 92 were his best in Test cricket improving upon six for 67 (and match figures of eight for 105) against West Indies at Bridgetown in 2000-01.
• The winning margin of 191 runs was the fourth largest for South Africa against England. They had beaten England at Lord’s in 1994 by 356 runs, at Johannesburg in 1905-06 by 243 runs and at Leeds in 1955 by 224 runs.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)