Vaas and Lara excel at Colombo

Sri Lankan left-arm pace bowler Chaminda Vaas created history when he claimed 14 West Indian wickets for 191 runs in the third and final Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground at Colombo. His match figures were the best by any left arm pace bowler in 124 years of Test cricket. Table A below illustrates this.

Vaas's match figures were also the best on Sri Lankan soil as seen in Table B.

Brian Lara's 688 runs out of his team’s aggregate of 1540 runs in this series represented 44.68% of the total runs. This now is the maximum runs scored by any batsman in a three-or-more Test match series, vis-a-vis rest of the batsmen from the same team. Lara just managed to better the previous record of 44.64% by Zimbabwean Dave Houghton also against Sri Lanka in 1994-95.

Table C lists batsmen who have monopolised his team’s batting in a three-or-more Test match series.

With the West Indies losing the Test match by ten wickets, Lara's first innings score of 221 now becomes the highest individual score made by a Test batsman for a losing side. The previous highest such score was the unbeaten 214 by Australian Victor Trumper against South Africa at Adelaide way back in January 1911.

Table D lists all the Tests double-hundreds for losing sides.

However, Lara with a match aggregate of 351 runs (221 & 130) became the first batsman in Test history to aggregate 350-plus runs in a Test match on two separate occasions. He already holds the Test record of 375 runs in a single innings against England at St John's in 1994.

In all, eight batsmen have aggregated 350-runs in a Test match, with Lara being the only one to do so twice.

Table E has the full list.

Table A:

Best match figures by left-arm pace bowlers
Players	Wkts	Runs	For	vs	Test	Series	1st	2nd	Venue
WPUJ Vaas	14	191	SL	WI	3rd	2001-02	7/120	7/71	Colombo (SSC)
JJ Ferris	13	91	Eng	SA	1st	1891-92	6/54	7/37	Cape Town
BA Reid	13	148	Aus	Eng	2nd	1990-91	6/97	7/51	Melbourne
F Martin	12	102	Eng	Aus	2nd	1890	6/50	6/52	The Oval
AK Davidson	12	124	Aus	Ind	2nd	1959-60	5/31	7/93	Kanpur
BA Reid	12	126	Aus	Ind	2nd	1991-92	6/66	6/60	Melbourne
G Dymock	12	166	Aus	Ind	3rd	1979-80	5/99	7/67	Kanpur

Table B:

Best match figures on Sri Lankan soil
Players	Wkts	Runs	For	vs	Test	Series	1st	2nd	Venue
WPUJ Vaas	14	191	SL	WI	3rd	2001-02	7/120	7/71	Colombo (SSC)
M Muralitharan	13	171	SL	SA	1st	2000-01	6/87	7/84	Galle
M Muralitharan	12	117	SL	Zim	1st	1997-98	5/23	7/94	Kandy
Waqar Younis	11	119	Eng	Pak	SL	1994-95	6/34	5/85	Kandy
M Muralitharan	11	170	SL	WI	1st	2001-02	6/126	5/44	Galle
M Muralitharan	11	196	SL	Ind	3rd	2001-02	8/87	3/109	Colombo (SSC)
RJ Hadlee	10	102	NZ	SL	3rd	1983-84	5/73	5/29	Colombo (CCC)
M Muralitharan	10	111	SL	Ban	1st	2001-02	5/13	5/98	Colombo (CCC)
M Muralitharan	10	135	SL	WI	2nd	2001-02	4/54	6/81	Kandy

Table C:

Batsmen monopolising a three-match Test series
Players	Percentage	For	Runs	Team	Played	Innings	Vs	Series	Venue
BC Lara	44.68	WI	688	1540	3	6	SL	2001-02	SL
DL Houghton	44.64	Zim	466	1044	3	3	SL	1994-95	Zim
Shoaib Mohammad	39.86	Pak	507	1272	3	5	NZ	1990-91	Pak
SM Nurse	39.69	WI	558	1406	3	5	NZ	1968-69	NZ
DG Bradman	35.51	Aus	974	2743	5	7	Eng	1930	Eng
GM Turner	35.23	NZ	403	1144	3	5	Aus	1973-74	NZ
DCS Compton	35.17	Eng	453	1288	4	5	Pak	1954	Eng

Table D:

Highest individual scores for a losing side
Players	Runs	For	Vs	Inn	Test	Series	Venue
BC Lara	221	WI	SL	1st	3rd	2001-02	Colombo (SSC)
VT Trumper	214*	Aus	SA	1st	3rd	1910-11	Adelaide
RG Pollock	209	SA	Aus	1st	2nd	1966-67	Cape Town
RN Harvey	205	Aus	SA	1st	5th	1952-53	Melbourne
GA Faulkner	204	SA	Aus	1st	2nd	1910-11	Melbourne
ML Hayden	203	Aus	Ind	1st	3rd	2000-01	Chennai (MAC)
DL Amiss	203	Eng	WI	1st	5th	1976	The Oval
L Hutton	202*	Eng	WI	1st	4th	1950	The Oval
ES Gregory	201	Aus	Eng	1st	1st	1894-95	Sydney

Table E:

Most runs by an individual batsman in a Test match (Qualification: 350 runs or more)
Players	Runs	For	Vs	Test	Series	1st	2nd	Venue
GA Gooch	456	Eng	Ind	1st	1990	333	123	Lord's
MA Taylor	426	Aus	Pak	2nd	1998-99	334*	92	Peshawar
GS Chappell	380	Aus	NZ	1st	1973-74	247*	133	Wellington
A Sandham	375	Eng	WI	4th	1929-30	325	50	Kingston
BC Lara (1)	375	WI	Eng	5th	1993-94	375	-	St. John's
GStA Sobers	365	WI	Pak	3rd	1957-58	365*	-	Kingston
L Hutton	364	Eng	Aus	5th	1938	364	-	The Oval
Hanif Mohammad	354	Pak	WI	1st	1957-58	17	337	Bridgetown
BC Lara (2)	351	WI	SL	3rd	2001-02	221	130	Colombo (SSC)