It was the 1673rd ODI in cricket history.
It was South Africa's 222nd and Sri Lanka's 342nd match.
It was the 25th match between these two sides. The record now reads: South Africa 14, Sri Lanka 10, no result 1.
It was the 11th match between these two sides in South Africa. The record now reads: South Africa 8, Sri Lanka 3.
Umpires Danny Becker and Dave Orchard officiated in their 15th and 66th match respectively.
Chaminda Vaas played his 150th match. He became the eighth Sri Lankan and 51st player overall to do so.
Aravinda de Silva played his 270th match which makes him the most capped Sri Lankan player. De Silva moved ahead of Arjuna Ranatunga.
Atapattu played his 50th day-night match-eighth Sri Lankan to do so. Incidentally Sanath Jayasuriya has appeared in most such matches for Sri Lanka-78. He is followed by Aravinda de Silva (69), Chaminda Vaas (61), Arjuna Ranatunga (60), Romesh Kaluwitharana (58), Muttiah Muralitharan (58) and Roshan Mahanama (56).
Arnold's innings (65*) is the best for Sri Lanka against South Africa by a number six batsman. This surpassed the unbeaten 64 by Arjuna Ranatunga at Wellington on 02-03-1992.
Sri Lanka's win ended ended a sequence of 10 straight wins for South Africa. It was also South Africa's first defeat at home soil in last 13 matches.
The victory by four runs was the third narrowest for Sri Lanka in ODIs. It had beaten India by two runs at Colombo RP on 1997-98 and England by three runs at Colombo SSC on 14-02-1982.
The loss by four runs was the third narrowest for South Africa in ODIs. It had lost to Australia by one run at Bloemfontein on 08-04-1994 and to India by two runs at Calcutta on 24-1-1993.
Russell Arnold won his second Man of the Match award. His only other award came against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on 12-12-1999.
At the end of the series:
Overall ODI record:South Africa: played 222, won 138, lost 76, tied 2 and abandoned 6. Sri Lanka: played 342, won 135, lost 191, tied 2 and abandoned 14.
Captaincy record:
Shaun Pollock: played 29,won 18,lost 9,tied one and abandoned one. Sanath Jayasuriya: played 41, won 24, lost 15, tied one and abandoned one.