Brisbane Test: Statistical highlights

Like any other cricket match, the first Test at Brisbane of India's current tour of Australia was also a statistician's delight. For the statistically minded reader, we list here all the salient events of the 'Gabba Test.

• This was the 1,671st Test match in cricket history.
• This was the 61st Test between India and Australia and the 29th between the two sides in Australia.
• This match was the 46th on the 'Gabba, and the fifth for India. India had lost on all four previous occasions.
• Nathan Bracken was making his Test debut for Australia. He became the 387th player to appear in a Test for Australia.
• Umpires Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen were officiating in their 84th and 45th Tests, respectively.
• The runout of Damien Martyn in the first innings was the 27th in which Steve Waugh was involved. Waugh's partners have got run out on as many as 23 occasions while Waugh himself has been run out just four times.Waugh's percentage of partner runouts is the highest in Test history for any batsman involved in 15 or more runout dismissals (including his own).

• Waugh's 23 'partner runouts' are also the maximum effected by a batsman in Test cricket. In fact, no other batsman has been responsible for running out his partners on as many as 20 occasions. The following table has the details:

• Waugh also became only the second batsman in Test history to be dismissed both 'handling the ball' and 'hit-wicket' after West Indian Desmond Haynes. He had been dismissed for 'handling the ball' against India at Kolkata in 2000-01. By an odd coincidence, both of Haynes's dismissals in these rare fashions also came against India.
• Waugh provided the 15th instance of a batsman getting out 'hit-wicket' against India. His was the 22nd instance of an Australian being dismissed in this fashion. The last Australian to get out hit-wicket was former captain Kim Hughes against England at The Oval, London, in 1981.
• Zaheer Khan (5-95) returned his third five-wicket haul. Interestingly, all three hauls have come on foreign soil and in his last three successive appearances. Zaheer had taken 5-53 and 5-29 against New Zealand at Wellington and Hamilton, respectively, last December.
• Just for the record, the last time an Indian paceman captured five wickets in an innings against Australia in Australia was during 1991-92 tour. Kapil Dev (in the second and fourth Tests in that series) and Manoj Prabhakar (in the fifth Test) were the bowlers to do so.
• The catch to dismiss Sehwag in the first innings was the 50th in Tests for Matthew Hayden. He became the 15th Australian and 79th player overall to achieve this feat.
• Sourav Ganguly (144) scored his first hundred against Australia and the eleventh of his career. He now has an incredible record in his name -- India has never been defeated in a Test in which Ganguly has reached the three-figure mark.
• Ganguly's innings was also the highest for India at the 'Gabba. The previous record was held by Sunil Gavaskar, who had made 113 in the 1977-78 series.
• Ganguly's innings was the second highest by an Indian captain against Australia after Mohammad Azharuddin's 163 not out at Kolkata in 1997-98. But it was easily the highest on Australian soil, beating fellow teammate Sachin Tendulkar's 116 at Melbourne in 1999-00.
• V V S Laxman (75) completed 3000 runs in Test cricket when his score reached 34 on the fourth day. He became the 15th Indian and 127th batsman overall to reach this landmark. Laxman was playing his 47th Test and 77th innings.
• India scored 351 runs on the fourth day This was the eighth instance of India scoring 350 or more runs in a day's play. This was also the second such instance for India against Australia.The accompanying table has the details:

• Justin Langer,after making a hundred in the first innings, failed to open his account in the second. He became the 17th Australian (on the 18th occasion) to score a hundred and a duck in the same Test. Don Bradman has done so twice. Langer is only the second Australian to make this record after Ian Chappell, who was dismissed for a nought after making 138 in the Delhi Test in 1969-70.
• Matthew Hayden missed his hundred by one run in the second innings. He became the 17th Australian (on the 18th occasion) to make a score of 99. This was the third time an Australian batsman had made 99 against India. Others to be dismissed for 99 were Bill Brown (at Melbourne in 1947-48) and Ian Chappell (at Calcutta in 1969-70). Hayden also provided the ninth instance of a batsman getting dismissed on 99 against India.
• During his second innings, Hayden completed 1,000 runs in calendar year 2003. It took him 10 Tests and 17 innings to achieve this landmark. He became the third batsman to perform this feat in 2003 after West Indian Brian Lara (1,054 runs in eight Tests) and South African Graeme Smith (1008 runs in 10 Tests).
• Interestingly, Hayden has now chalked up 1,000 runs for the third year in a row -- the first batsman in Test history to do so. Hayden has aggregated 3,645 runs in 59 innings of 35 Tests with 15 hundreds and 10 fifties for an average of 70.09 in the last three years!