Australia vs Sri Lanka, Port Elizabeth

• This was the 50th match to be played in this World Cup and also the 50th to be played between the two sides since they first met in the 1975 World Cup.
• Michael Bevan was appearing in his 25th match against Sri Lanka, which makes him the Australian with maximum appearances against this opponent. Steve Waugh had appeared in 24 matches against Sri Lanka.
• The wicket of Ricky Ponting was Chamida Vaas's 21st for this World Cup. He now has the maximum wickets by any bowler in a single World Cup. He went past the previous record of 20 wickets, held by New Zealander Geoff Allott and Australian Shane Warne, both doing so during the 1999 World Cup. Chaminda Vaas now has 23 wickets to his credit in this World Cup. Australian Brett Lee, with 20 wickets in this tournament, has an excellent chance to go past Vaas's tally, during the World Cup final on 23-3-2003.
• The catch of Ponting by Sanath Jayasuriya was his 15th in the World Cup in 27 matches. He now becomes the fielder with most catches for Sri Lanka in the World Cup. He went past the tally of 14 catches by Aravinda de Silva.
• Playing in his 204th match, Michael Bevan recorded the 5th duck of his career. This dismissal was incidentally his only second 'first-ball duck' of his career. He was dismissed in this fashion also against Sri Lanka (then bowled by Upul Chandana) at the Premadasa Stadium at Colombo on 31-8-1999.
• During his unbeaten knock of 91 runs, Andrew Symonds became the 24th Australian and the 178th batsman in LOIs to reach 1000 runs. He now has 1088 runs to his credit in 62 matches. Symonds joins India's Yuvraj Singh (1489 runs in 68 matches) as the only second batsman among current players from Test-playing countries to aggregate over 1000 LOI runs without still appearing in a Test match.
• The unbeaten partnership of 37 runs between Symonds and Andy Bichel was Australia's best for the 8th wicket against Sri Lanka in the World Cup. The pair betters the previous best of unbeaten 36 runs between Michael Bevan and Paul Reiffel at Lahore on 17-3-1996.
• Vaas, with 29 wickets in 25 matches, has become the highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka against Australia.
• Vaas's 3-34 was the best bowling by a Sri Lankan against Australia in the World Cup. Aravinda de Silva's 3-42 at Lahore in the 1996 World Cup final on 17-3-1996 was the previous best.
• The four dismissals (3ct+1st) by Kumar Sangakkara equals the performance of South African Mark Boucher (all catches, at Biringham on 17-6-1999). They now have most dismissals by a keeper in a World Cup match against Australia.
• Meanwhile, the four dismissals by Sangakkara also equals his own record of most dismissals by a Sri Lankan keeper in the World Cup. Sangakkara had achieved this feat against New Zealand at Bloemfontein earlier in the tournament on 10-2-2003.
• Brett Lee's 3-35 was the best bowling by an Australian against Sri Lanka in the World Cup obliterating Lee's own figures of  3-52 at Centurion on 7-3-2003.
• This was Australia's fourth win over Sri Lanka in the five World Cup matches played between the two sides.
• Australia extended its record win sequence in the World Cup to eleven in a row, since 20-6-1999. This was also its 17th consecutive World Cup match without defeat (that includes 16 wins and one tie) since 27-5-1999.
• Australia also extended its record consecutive wins to 16 in LOIs since 11-1-2003.
• This was Australia's fifth entry to the World Cup final after 1975, 1987, 1996 and 1999 and its third in consecutive tournaments.