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Tonight he's gonna party...
Wisden CricInfo staff - November 16, 2001
Rob Smyth on the statistical highlights from Port Elizabeth
Monday, November 19, 2001
When Shaun Pollock had Shiv Sunder Das caught behind for a duck in the second innings, his bowling average dipped below 20, making him unique among bowlers with 200 Test wickets (Das was Pollock's 253rd victim). Pollock went into the innings with a career average of 20.07 and by taking a wicket without conceding a run he got it down to 19.99, although after he conceded five runs it had gone back up to 20.01.
Pollock's average had briefly dropped below 20 earlier this year - when he took 6 for 30 against Sri Lanka at Newlands in January, it fell to 19.82, but it crept above 20 again during the next Test at Centurion. Before Pollock, the most prolific bowler with an average in the teens was England's Sydney Barnes, who took 189 wickets in the Edwardian era at an average of 16.43.
Javagal Srinath's first-innings haul of 6 for 76 was the 10th five-for of his Test career. It was also his best analysis in a Test outside India, beating the 5 for 95 he took against New Zealand at Hamilton in 1998-99. It was the fourth time he has picked up five wickets or more in an innings against South Africa.
Herschelle Gibbs made 196, the highest score by a South African in Tests against India. It surpasses Daryll Cullinan's 153 not out, made at Calcutta in 1996-97. It was also Gibbs's fifth Test century and his third in the last four Tests. Gibbs is playing in his 32nd Test, and has shown a taste for scoring hundreds in binges - apart from these three, his other two came back-to-back in New Zealand in 1998-99. When he moved to 108 Gibbs also reached 2000 Test runs.
It continues an excellent run of form for Gibbs, who in the second innings became the first batsman to score 1000 Test runs in 2001 - all since returning from the ban imposed on him for his part in the match-fixing scandal. Before that he had made 1098 runs at 32.29. His run of scores since the ban reads: 0, 1, 8, 83*, 34, 87, 34, 19, 85, 45, 18, 51, 147, 74, 107, 1, 196, 12 (1002 runs at 58.94). And his one-day form has improved too: before the ban Gibbs made 1673 runs at 30.41; since returning he has made 846 at 40.28.
Rahul Dravid is playing in his 50th Test. He is the 19th Indian to do so.
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
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