-The Australia v England match on Saturday provided only the third instance of a one-day international being played in India on Diwali. The first such instance was a World Cup game between India and Australia at Delhi in 1987. By an odd coincidence the second instance also came at Delhi - between India and New Zealand in 1994.
-For the second successive time, Glenn McGrath did not open the bowling for Australia. In Australia's first match of the tournament (against West Indies) also, McGrath had come as first change after Lee and Bracken had shared the new ball. The last time McGrath did not open the bowling for Australia (before this tournament) was against Zimbabwe at Harare on May 29, 2004. Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz had then opened the bowling for Australia.
-Before the ICC Champions Trophy, McGrath had bowled in 223 innings. In 201 of them he opened the bowling - 159 times sending down the first over of the innings and 42 times the second over. Only on 22 occasions McGrath did not get the new ball. Of these 22 occasions he came to bowl at number three on 19 occasions and at number four on remaining three. All the instances of McGrath being brought into the attack at number four came before 1997.
-The catch to dismiss Kevin Pietersen was 350th for Adam Gilchrist as a wicket-keeper. Gilchrist became first wicket-keeper to reach this mark. South African Mark Boucher, with 309 catches, is distant second.
-Gilchrist made five dismissals in a match for the ninth time in his career - easily the most such instances for any wicket-keeper in ODIs. South Africa's Mark Boucher and West Indies' Ridley Jacobs are joint-second with five such instances each.
-Gilchrist also became the second wicket-keeper after Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara to make 5 dismissals in an ICC Champions Trophy match. Sangakkara had taken 4 catches and effected one stumping against the Netherlands at Colombo RPS on September 16, 2002.
-Gilchrist also provided the third instance of a keeper effecting five dismissals in a match on Indian soil. Surprisingly no Indian makes it to this short list.
Adam Parore (3 ct,2 st) | NZ v WI | Margao | 26-10-1994 |
Jimmy Adams (4 ct,1 st) | WI v Ken | Pune | 29-02-1996 |
Adam Gilchrist (5 ct) | Aus v Eng | Jaipur | 21-10-2006 |
-This was also the sixth such instance for Gilchrist in a day-night match. No one else has done so more than thrice.
-Gilchrist also completed his 50 dismissals against England in his 26th match - he is the first keeper to achieve this landmark against England.
-Gilchrist has now taken his tally of dismissals on Indian soil to 25 (24 catches and one stumping), which is the highest by any 'non-Indian' wicket-keeper on Indian soil. Gilchrist went ahead of West Indian Jeff Dujon's aggregate of 22 dismissals.
-Nine England batsmen were dismissed caught. Only number 11 James Anderson found other way of getting dismissed (bowled). This provided the fourth instance in an ODI on Indian soil when a maximum of nine batsmen were dismissed caught in an innings. The other three instances were - India v West Indies at Faridabad on 17-10-1994, India v Pakistan at Chennai on 21-05-1997 and England v India at Indore on 15-04-2006. On all the four occasions the batting side ended on the losing side.
-Ricky Ponting is having a torrid time there as a batsman. In his last five innings Ponting's scores have been: 19, 4, 6, 1, 1 - an aggregate of 31 at an average of 6.20!
-England have not beaten Australia in last 13 day-night encounters. Australia have won 12, while one match was abandoned. The last time England defeated Australia in a floodlit match was at Sydney on 17-01-1999 when England registered a 7-run win.
-England's playing record in 2006 gives a dismal reading - 4 wins and 14 losses in 19 games.
-England have now lost all six games they have played under Andrew Flintoff.
-Damien Martyn won his third Man of the Match award against England. He now shares the honour of winning most awards for Australia against England along with Greg Chappell, Dean Jones and Ricky Ponting.
Gilchrist claims 350 ODI catches
Images: Australia vs England
Soccer gives Bucknor the edge