• In 331 one-day internationals no England wicketkeeper had ever taken two stumpings in the same over – until today, when James Foster did it on his debut. • Foster is the third man to take two stumpings on his ODI debut, after Mahes Goonatilleke (v England at Colombo in 1981-82) and Adam Parore (v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 1992-93).

• Foster's two stumpings were also the first for England in 22 one-dayers, since Chris Read removed ... Andy and Grant Flower on this ground, both off the bowling of Graeme Hick, in the third ODI at Harare in 1999-2000. It was also the last time both Flowers were stumped in the same one-day innings.

• Indeed only three England keepers have ever managed two stumpings in the same one-dayer. Foster, Read ... and Graeme Fowler, who saw off Mohsin Khan and Naved Anjum (even more improbably, the bowler who dismissed Anjum was Chris Smith) at Karachi in 1983-84.

• Two stumpings per ODI is a ratio Foster will find hard to maintain. Alec Stewart has managed only 11 stumpings in his 146 one-dayers, and five of those were taken off a variety of medium-pacers (Mark Ealham, Adam Hollioake, Matthew Fleming and Graham Thorpe).

• Ten years and four months after making his debut, Mark Ramprakash took his first wicket with his 14th delivery in ODIs. Before this match he had bowled only two overs in 13 one-dayers, against South Africa at Bloemfontein in 1995-96.

• Foster, who has deferred his final year at Durham University, is the first student to play for England since 1982. The last was Derek Pringle, who was at Cambridge University when he made his Test debut against India at Lord's. He missed the Varsity match that year - he was Cambridge's elected captain - because he was playing for England instead.

• Nasser Hussain and Nick Knight both made their first ODI fifties in Zimbabwe. Hussain's was his tenth in all and his fourth in his last six matches. His run of scores, starting against Bangladesh in Nairobi in 2000-01, is: 95, 5, 73, 54, 1 and 73.

• He started off trapped in the twenties in Test cricket, and now Mark Ramprakash can't get out of the thirties: seven of his 14 ODI innings have been between 27 and 35.

• Dirk Viljoen is making his 50th ODI appearance, and is the 13th Zimbabwean to do so.

• This is the first ODI in which England have included four debutants since the days of the Texaco Trophy. In the first one-dayer against Pakistan in 1996 there were five new boys: Nick Knight, Graham Lloyd, Dean Headley, Robert Croft and Alan Mullally.

• Matthew Hoggard and James Kirtley are the first debutant pair to take the new ball since Les Taylor and Greg Thomas in the first ODI at Kingston in 1985-86. That was in England's 110th one-dayer; since then they have played a further 221. Taylor played two ODIs and failed to take a wicket, while Thomas took three wickets in this three matches.

• Hoggard, Kirtley and Jeremy Snape will also hope to fare better than recent debutants. The last three bowlers to make their ODI debuts for England – Graeme Swann, Paul Franks and Paul Grayson – have to date failed to gain a second cap.

• This is the first time since the inaugural ODI that England's bottom four have all been debutants. The closest they previously came was against West Indies at Leeds in 1973, when Nos 7, 8, 9 and 10 (Chris Old, Bob Taylor, Mike Hendrick and Bob Willis) were all playing in a one-dayer for the first time. It is also the first time England have included four debutants in a one-dayer overseas since the first match against Pakistan at Sahiwal in 1977-78, when the newcomers were Mike Gatting, Brian Rose, Paul Downton and Phil Edmonds.

• This is the first time since October 1998 that England have taken the field in an ODI without Darren Gough. That was in the quarter-final of the Wills International Cup – 51 games ago – when England sent a largely reserve side to face South Africa. That match was also the last one-dayer in which England included none of their regular seam quartet: Gough, Andy Caddick, Alan Mullally and Mark Ealham.

• Alec Stewart misses an ODI for the first time since England met Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in February 2000, 21 games ago.

• While James Foster has deferred his final year at Durham University to take his place in England's winter tour parties, Hamilton Masakadza is sitting an exam and misses today's match. This is not entirely unprecedented: Bryan Strang missed Zimbabwe's maiden Test victory, against Pakistan at Harare in 1994-95, because he was sitting exams. It's a decision he may be regretting – Strang made his debut in the next match but has yet to taste victory in 26 Tests.

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