It was the 1543rd Test match in cricket history
Rajneesh Gupta25-Apr-2001It was the 1543rd Test match in cricket history.It was Zimbabwe’s 49th and Bangladesh’s second Test match.It was the first ever Test between these two sides. Zimbabwebecame second country after India to play against all other Testplaying countries.Seven players were making their Test debut in this match- AndyBlignaut, Dion Ebrahim and Brighton Watambwa for Zimbabwe and JavedOmar, Manjural Islam, Mohammed Sharif and Mushfiqur Rahman forBangladesh.At 15 years 128 days Mohammed Sharif became the third youngestplayer to play in Test cricket after Pakistan’s Hasan Raza (14 years227 days) and Mushtaq Mohammad (15 years 124 days). The accompanyingtable lists the youngest Test debutants. Incidentally Bikash Das at 18years 119 days (v India at Dhaka in Bangladesh’s inaugural Test) wasthe previous record holder for being the youngest debutant forBangladesh.
Age
Player
For
Vs
Test
Venue
Season
(Yrs-days)
14-227
Hasan Raza
Pak
Zim
2nd
Faisalabad
1996-97
15-124
Mushtaq Mohammad
Pak
WI
3rd
Lahore LG
1958-59
15-128
Mohammed Sharif
Ban
Zim
1st
Bulawayo QC
2000-01
16-189
Aaqib Javed
Pak
NZ
2nd
Wellington
1988-89
16-205
SR Tendulkar
Ind
Pak
1st
Karachi NS
1989-90
16-221
Aftab Baloch
Pak
NZ
3rd
Dhaka (Dacca)
1969-70
16-248
Nasim-ul-Ghani
Pak
WI
1st
Bridgetown
1957-58
16-352
Khalid Hassan
Pak
Eng
2nd
Nottingham
1954
17- 5
Zahid Fazal
Pak
WI
1st
Karachi NS
1990-91
17-68
Ata-ur-Rehman
Pak
Eng
1st
Birmingham
1992
17-78
Imran Nazir
Pak
SL
1st
Lahore GS
1998-99
17-118
L Sivaramakrishnan
Ind
WI
5th
St. John’s
1982-83
17-122
JED Sealy
WI
Eng
1st
Bridgetown
1929-30
17-129
Fazl-e-Akbar
Pak
SA
2nd
Durban
1997-98
17-189
CDUS Weerasinghe
SL
Ind
2nd
Colombo PSS
1985-86
17-193
Maninder Singh
Ind
Pak
2nd
Karachi NS
1982-83
17-239
ID Craig
Aus
SA
5th
Melbourne
1952-53
17-245
GStA Sobers
WI
Eng
5th
Kingston
1953-54
17-265
VL Mehra
Ind
NZ
2nd
Bombay BS
1955-56
17-265
Harbhajan Singh
Ind
Aus
3rd
Bangalore
1997-98
17-300
Hanif Mohammad
Pak
Ind
1st
Delhi
1952-53
17-341
Intikhab Alam
Pak
Aus
3rd
Karachi NS
1959-60
17-364
Waqar Younis
Pak
Ind
1st
Karachi NS
1989-90
Rudi Koertzen was officiating in his 25th Test. He became firstumpire from South Africa and 30th in the world to stand in 25 or morematches. The other umpire Kevin Barbour was officiating in his secondmatch.Andy Flower (73) has now made atleast a fifty in last consecutiveseven innings. With this he equalled West Indian Everton Weekes’ worldrecord of most consecutive fifties which was set in 1947-48. Flower’sscores in his last seven innings have been : 65 (v NZ at Harare), 183*and 70 (v India at Delhi), 55 and 232* (v India at Nagpur), 79 (v NewZealand at Wellington)……and now 73. The following table gives detailsof players with most consecutive half-centuries :Inns
Batsman
For
Scores
Series
Runs
Ave
7
EdeC Weekes
WI
141
128
194
162
101
90
56
1947-48 to 1948-49
872
124.57
7
A Flower
Zim
65
183*
70
55
232*
79
73
2000-01
757
151.40
6
J Ryder
Aus
78*
58
56
142
201*
88
1921-22 to 1924-25
623
155.75
6
EH Hendren
Eng
85
172
70
99
93
52
1929-30
577
115.40
6
GA Headley
WI
80
65*
76
51*
50
56
1934-35 to 1938-39
680
136.00
6
A Melville
SA
91
126
52
215
186
168
1938-39 to 1947
658
131.60
6
GStA Sobers
WI
108
52
101
77
59
101*
1957-58
783
195.75
6
ER Dexter
Eng
63
132*
101
94
126
76
1962 to 1962-63
571
95.17
6
KF Barrington
Eng
76
118
110
50
242
103
1962-63
592
118.40
6
KD Walters
Aus
77
205*
56
123
61
55
1968-69
699
116.50
6
GS Chappell
Aus
93
53
270*
106
107
51
1975-76 to 1976-77
432
86.40
6
GR Viswanath
Ind
68
54*
52
70
121
67
1977-78 to 1978-79
499
83.17
6
Zaheer Abbas
Pak
59
54
79
89
73
145
1982-83
838
139.67
6
AR Border
Aus
67
78
103
189
104*
117
1989 to 1989-90
378
94.50
6
MA Taylor
Aus
52
52
80
365*
125
109*
1989-90
498
99.60
6
RS Dravid
Ind
92
93
85
52
56
86
1997-98
464
77.33
Andy Blignaut, by returning the figures of 5 for 73 in firstinnings, now holds the record of best figures by a Zimbabwean in aninnings on debut. The previous record was on the name of Brian Murphywho took 3 for 32 against West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1999-00(Though John Traicos finished with 5 for 86 against India inZimbabwe’s first ever Test, this was not his debut Test as he hadpreviously played in three Tests for South Africa in 1969-70)Blignaut’s match figures of 8 for 110 was the best by a debutantfor Zimbabwe bettering Bryan Strang’s 5 for 50 against Pakistan atBulawayo QC in 1994-95.The ninth wicket partnership of 56 runs between Murphy and Nkalawas the highest for Zimbabwe for this wicket at home soil. Thisobliterated the previous highest of 49 between Grant Flower and AndyWhittall against Pakistan at Bulawayo in 1997-98.The partnership was also the second best for Zimbabwe in allTestshome or awayafter the 87 run-partnership between Strangbrothers against Pakistan at Sheikhupura in 1996-97.Manjural Islam’s analysis of 6 for 81 is the best by a bowler inan innings for Bangldesh. He bettered Naimur Rahman’s six for 132against India at Dhaka. Interestingly both Rahman and Islam wereplaying their first Test.Javed Omar (85*) became first Bangladesh batsman to carry his batthrough the completed innings. He also became the 35th batsman in Testchronicles to perform this feat on 41st occasion.Omar also became only the second batsman to carry his bat in debutTest after Australia’s Jack Barrett who made 67* out of team’s totalof 176 against England at Lord’s in 1890.Omar’s contibution of 50.60 % in Bangladesh’s second innings wasthe second highest by any batsman against Zimbabwe. The record is heldby Pakistan’s Mohammad Wasim who contributed 54.24 % (192/354) infirst innings of Harare Test in 1997-98.Omar became first Bangladeshi and only the 18th batsman in Testannals to score a fifty in each innings on debut. The list includesfive West Indians -Bryan Davis, Frank de Caires, Jackie Grant, CliveLloyd and Sew Shivnarine, three Australians -Wick Darling,Bruce Lairdand Peter Toohey, three Englishmen -Tony Greig, Cyril Poole and PeterRichardson, three New Zealanders -Graham Dowling,Noel Harford andMervyn Wallace, two Indians -Dilawar Hussain and Sunil Gavaskar and aSouth African- Bruce Mitchell.In addition, seven batsmen have scoredhalf-centuries in their first two innings but not in debut Test. Theyare West Indians Sherwin Campbell, Desmond Haynes and Desmond Lewis,Australia’s Darren Lehmann and Ricky Ponting , England’s David Gowerand India’s Rahul Dravid (Kepler Wessels also scored two fifties inhis debut Test for South Africa after having appeared in 24 Tests forAustralia.The victory was second for Zimbabwe by an innings margin. Thefirst such instance took place in 1994-95 when Zimbabwe defeatedPakistan by an innings and 64 runs at Harare in January 1995.Overallit was the 247th occasion of a side winning a Test by innings margin.