• This was the 1641st Test in cricket history.
• Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Prabath Nissanka were making their Test debut. They became 94th and 95th player to play in a Test for Sri Lanka.
• Hashan Tillakaratne was captaining Sri Lanka for the second time in his career. He had led Sri Lanka for the first time Pakistan at Lahore in March 1999.
• Romesh Kaluwitharana was making a comeback into Sri Lankan side after 21 Test matches. He had last appeared for Sri Lanka against South Africa in the third Test of 2000-01 series. Similarly Kumara Dharmasena was also making a comeback after 19 matches
• Stephen Fleming was captaining New Zealand for the 50th time in a match. He became first New Zealander and only the eighth in Test history after Allan Border (93), Clive Lloyd (74), Arjuna Ranatunga (56), Mike Atherton (54), Hansie Cronje (53), Viv Richards (50) and Mark Taylor (50) to reach this coveted mark.
• Stephen Fleming established and broke many records during his unbeaten innings of 274. They are as follows :
  • On 100, he completed his fifth Test century and 20th of his first class cricket career.
  • On 169, he completed 3000 runs as New Zealand’s captain – first New Zealander and only the 14th player to do so in Test cricket.
  • On 175, he surpassed his previous highest Test and first class score of 174 (not out) - also against Sri Lanka also at Colombo RPS in 1997-98.
  • On 181, he bettered the previous highest score by a New Zealander on Sri Lankan soil- John F.Reid had made 180 at Colombo CCC in 1983-84.
  • On 200, he became the ninth New Zealander to score a double century (on 11th occasion).
  • On 207, he recorded the highest individual score at P Saravanamuttu Stadium, supplanting Aravinda de Silva's 206 for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh last year.
  • On 215, he surpassed the highest score by a New Zealander at number 3 bettering Matthew Sinclair’s 214 against the West Indies at Wellington in 1999-00
  • On 222, he expunged the highest score by a left-hander against Sri Lanka. West Indian Brian Lara had made 221 at Colombo SSC last season.
  • On 231, he bettered the highest score by a New Zealander left-hander in all Tests. Bert Sutcliffe had made 230 not out against India at Delhi in 1955-56.
  • On 260, he became the highest scorer for New Zealand in an innings on foreign soil bettering Glenn Turner's 259 against the West Indies at Georgetown in 1971-72.
• Fleming’s innings of 274 not out is the second highest individual innings for New Zealand and by any one against Sri Lanka. Martin Crowe, with his 299 at Wellington in 1990-91, holds both these records.
  • It is the eighth highest by a number 3 batsman in Tests and 28th joint highest in all Tests.
  • It is the second highest by any batsman on Sri Lankan soil. Only Sanath Jayasuriya (340 vs India at Colombo RPS in 1997-98) has scored more.
  • It is the second highest by a New Zealander captain (after Martin Crowe’s 299) and sixth highest by a captain in Test cricket.
  • It is the ninth joint highest by a left-hander in Test cricket.
  • It is the highest unbeaten innings for New Zealand (supplanting Bryan Young’s 267 not out against Sri Lanka in 1996-97) and the ninth highest unbeaten innings in all Test matches.
• Fleming occupied the crease for 653 minutes during his epic innings of 274 not out. This is the fourth longest stay by a New Zealander at the crease in Tests after Glenn Turner's 704 minutes against the West Indies in Georgetown, Reid's 685 minutes at Colombo CCC in 1983-84 and Mark Greatbatch's 655 minutes against Australia at Perth in 1989-90.
• New Zealand’s total (515-7d) is their highest against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka beating the 459 that they made at Colombo CCC in 1983-84. However New Zealand’s alltime highest against Sri Lanka – home or away- still remains 671-4 at Wellington in 1990-91.
• The second wicket partnership of 172 runs between Richardson and Fleming is New Zealand’s highest for this wicket against Sri Lanka. This puts in to shade the previous record stand of 141 between Bryan Young and Matt Horne at Dunedin in 1996-97.
• Muttiah Muralitharan bowled 58.5 overs (353 balls) in New Zealand’s first innings. This is a new record in Sri Lanka-New Zealand Tests. The previous record was on the name of EAR de Silva who bowled 336 balls at Wellington in 1990-91.
• Hashan Tillakaratne (144) scored his 11th hundred in 74th Test. His innings is the highest by a Sri Lankan captain against New Zealand obliterating Arjuna Ranatunga’s 90 at Dunedin in 1994-95. Incidentally the previous highest by a Sri Lankan captain against New Zealand on home soil was 76 also by Ranatunga at Colombo SSC in 1992-93.
• Tillakaratne is averaging 63.56 when playing at home, and is averaging 48.35 when batting at number 6 as against his career batting average of 45.32
• The fifth wicket stand of 133 between Jayawardene and Tillakaratne is a new record for this wicket for Sri Lanka against New Zealand. This obliterates the previous record stand of 130 between Ranjan Madugalle and Somachandra de Silva at Wellington in 1982-83.
• The 21 leg-byes in Sri Lanka’s only innings are the third most conceded by New Zealand in an innings. New Zealand had conceded 25 leg-byes against West Indies at Georgetown in 1984-85 and 23 leg-byes against England at The Oval in 1983.
• Fleming followed his first innings 274 not out with 69 not out in the second innings. His aggregate of 343 is the highest by any batsman undefeated in both innings of a Test. Gary Sobers’ 365 (vs Pakistan at Kingston in 1957-58) is the record without being dismissed in a Test but he batted just once. The previous record aggregate involving two not out innings was 270 (200 and 70) by India’s Rahul Dravid against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 2000-01.
• Fleming’s match aggregate of 343 is the highest by a New Zealander. He moved ahead of Martin Crowe who had an aggregate of 329 (30 + 299) against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91.
• Fleming batted for 303 minutes in the second innings. He, thus, stayed at the crease for a total of 956 minutes throughout the match. This is the longest stay by a Kiwi batsman in a match moving ahead of Mark Greatbatch who batted for 876 minutes against Australia at Perth in 1989-90 making 76 and 146 not out.
• Fleming spent 1610 minutes - - all but 45 minutes of the match on the field of play.
• Muralitharan bowled 533 balls in the match which are the maximum in Sri Lanka –New Zealand Tests. The previous record was also held by Muralitharan himself. He had bowled 446 balls at Colombo RPS in 1997-98.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)