• It was the 1558th Test match in cricket history.

• It was Australia's 619th and England's 786th Test match.

• It was 301st Test between these two sides. The record now reads : Australia 121, England 94,drawn 86.

• It was the 146th Test between these two sides in England. The record now reads : Australia 45, England 41,drawn 60.

• It was the 33rd Test between these two sides at The Oval. The record now reads : Australia 6,England 15,drawn 12.

• James Ormand (right-handed batsman and medium fast bowler) was making his Test debut for England. He became 607th player to represent England in Test cricket.

• Andrew Caddick was making his 50th Test appearance. He became 46th Englishman and 173rd player in all to do so.

• Umpires Rudi Koertzen and Peter Willey were officiating in their 26th and 24th match respectively.

• The stand of 158 between Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer was Australia's third-best for the first wicket at The Oval. The record remains 180, by Warren Bardsley and Syd Gregory in 1909. Bill Woodfull and Bill Ponsford added 159 in 1930.

• Justin Langer (102 retired hurt) was scoring his eighth hundred in his 42nd Test. It was his second against England, following 179 not out at Adelaide in 1998-99. It was also the first he had made after opening the innings, which he had only done once before against West Indies at Perth in 1992-93, in only his second Test, when he made 10 and 1.

• Mark Waugh moved past David Boon (7422 runs) into fourth place on the list of top Australian Test run-getters when he reached 32 in Australia's only innings. Now only Allan Border (11174 runs in 156 matches), twin brother Steve (9286 in 139) and Mark Taylor (7525 in 104) are ahead of Mark.

• Steve Waugh (157*) was making his 27th Test century in his 139th match. He has now moved to third place among the leading Test centurions surpassing West Indian Garry Sobers tally of 26 and equalling with his former captain Allan Border. This after he had to wait until his 42nd Test innings to score his maiden hundred ! Now only Indian Sunil Gavaskar (34) and Don Bradman (29) are ahead of Steve.

• Mark Waugh's 120 was his 20th Test hundred, making him the seventh Australian to reach that landmark.

• Australia's only innings included three centuries. This provided the sixth instance when three Australian batsmen scored centuries in the same Test innings in England. The other instances being: at this same venue in 1884 (PS McConnell 103,WL Murdoch 211 & HJH Scott 102),at Headingley in 1926 (WM Woodfull 141,CG Macartney 151 & AJ Richardson 100), at Lord's (MA Taylor 111, MJ Slater 152 and DC Boon 164*) and Headingley (DC Boon 107, AR Border 200* and SR Waugh 157*) in 1993 and at Edgbaston (SR Waugh 105, DR Martyn 105 and AC Gilchrist 152) in first Test of this series. Australia's only innings included six scores of fifty plus-20th such instance in a Test innings. Australia however missed the chance to equal the existing world record of most fifties in an innings which is held by England who scored seven fifties in the first innings of Manchester Test in 1934.

• Usman Afzaal took a wicket with only his third ball in Test cricket when he had Adam Gilchrist caught by Ramprakash. He became the 29th Englishman to take a wicket in his first over and the fourth to do so off his third ball. The last England player before Afzaal to take a wicket off his third ball was Graeme Hick who dismissed West Indies Phil Simmons with his off-spinnner at Lord's in 1991.

• When he dismissed Alec Stewart in England s first innings, Shane Warne became the first spinner and only the sixth bowler in all to take 400 Test wickets. Warne joined the elite club of 400-wicket takers which has Courtney Walsh (519),Kapil Dev (434), Richard Hadlee (431),Wasim Akram (414) and Curtly Ambrose (405) as its other members. His first victim was Indian allrounder Ravi Shastri, caught by Dean Jones at Sydney in 1991-92. His 100th was another all-rounder, Brian McMillan of South Africa, lbw at Adelaide in 1993-94. Ricky Ponting shared in No. 200 by catching Sri Lanka's Hashan Tillekeratne at Perth in 1995-96 - and the Warne 300 was brought up when South African wicket-keeper Dave Richardson fell to him for the second time in the match at Sydney in 1997-98. Warne has reached 400 in 92 Tests, faster than anyone except the remarkable Hadlee, who took just 80 matches to reach this landmark.

• The dismissal of Darren Gough in first innings off Shane Warne was 100th for Adam Gilchrist as a wicket-keeper. He became fifth Australian after Ian Healy (395),Rod Marsh (355), Wally Grout (187) and Bert Oldfield (130) and the 26th keeper in all to do so. By reaching this landmark in his 22nd Test Gilchrist became the quickest in Test history breaking the world record set by South Africa's Mark Boucher, also against England, at Port Elizabeth in 1999-2000.

• With this Gilchrist also completed the all-round double of 1000 runs and 100 dismissals. Obviously he is the fastest to complete the double obliterating Rod Marsh s record of 25 Tests.

• Mike Atherton (in second innings) fell off the bowling of Glenn McGrath for the sixth time in this series and 19th time in his career- a new record of a batsman getting dismissed off a particular bowler on most occasions. The Atherton-McGrath combination broke the record of Arthur Morris and Alec Bedser. England fast-medium bowler Bedser dismissed Australian opener Morris 18 times from 1946-47 to 1953.

• Shane Warne (7-165) was taking seven wickets in a Test innings in England for the first time. This was also the second time in the series that he has improved his best figures in England. His 6 for 33 at Trent Bridge bettered the 6 for 48 he took at Old Trafford in 1997. Warne's best figures against England, home or away, remains 8 for 71 at Brisbane in 1994-95. When Glenn McGrath dismissed Usman Afzaal in the second innings, he moved past Dennis Lillee (355 wickets in 70 Tests) into second place on the list of Australian Test wicket-takers. Only Shane Warne (407) now is ahead of him. The blonde bombshell has moved to the fourth place among the leading wicket takers surpassing West Indian Curtly Ambrose (405).

• Shane Warne (11-229) took ten wickets in a Test for the fifth time but it was the first time he had done it outside Australia. It was also the second time he had taken ten or more wickets against England.

• Steve Waugh extended his world-record of finishing on the winning side for the 66th time in Tests, while his twin brother Mark moved ahead of Viv Richards (63) with his 64th Test victory. At the other end of the scale, Alec Stewart also extended his world-record with the 48th Test defeat of his career, ahead of Allan Border (46) and Mike Atherton (44).

• Glenn McGrath finished the series with 32 wickets. It was the third time he has taken 30 or more in a series (36 against England in 1997, and 30 against West Indies in 1998-99). The only other bowlers to capture 30 or more wickets in a series on three separate occasions are Syd Barnes and Alec Bedser of England, and Clarrie Grimmett and Craig McDermott of Australia.

• Australia has now featured in 23 consecutive Tests with positive results, winning 20 and losing only three a new world-record. It bettered England's run of 22 result producing Tests from December 1884 to March 1892.

• This was the first English summer to feature seven Tests with positive results (England won two and lost five). The previous record was six, in the nine-Test Triangular tournament summer of 1912, when England won four and Australia two. The third team, South Africa, lost five of those and Australia one.

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