The Dravid-Laxman symphony, and Lara's run-riot

Dravid on a roll
Rahul Dravid had long been considered India's best bet - along with Sachin Tendulkar - in bowler-friendly conditions, but only recently has he finally transformed from being a technically correct, good-looking batsman to one who uses his skills to make a contribution when the team needs him most. In the last 20 months, Dravid has been in stunning form, averaging more than 69 in Tests when he has batted at No. 3.

What's more remarkable, though, is the way he has scored runs on most occasions when India have stumbled at the start of their innings. Over the last 20 months, when India lose their first wicket for less than 25, Dravid averages more than 55; the corresponding figure over the three-year period before that (Feb 1999-Feb 2002) was just 28. Of course, he has not wasted the good starts either, scoring three hundreds on the ten occasions when the openers have provided the platform. Though Dravid's average was a healthy 47 between 1999 and 2002, most of his runs then came after the openers had done their bit.

Dravid at No. 3 since February 2002

	Innings	Runs	Average	100s
	31	1868	69.18	6
1st wicket <=25	21	1054	58.56	3
1st wicket >25	10	814	90.44	3

Dravid at No. 3 from Feb 1999 to Feb 2002

	Innings	Runs	Average	100s
	32	1384	47.72	4
1st wicket <=25	19	512	28.44	1
1st wicket >25	13	872	79.27	3

* * * * * *

Perfect harmony
Meanwhile, Dravid and VVS Laxman continued their magic, putting together their sixth century partnership in 31 tries. More than half their stands have been for the fifth wicket, where they put together, on an average, a phenomenal 84 runs per partnership.

Dravid-Laxman partnerships

For	Runs	No. of p'ships	Ave p'ships
2nd wicket	265	10	26.5
3rd wicket	150	2	150
4th wicket	179	3	59.67
5th wicket	1185	16	84.64
Total	1779	31	63.54

In fact, Dravid and Laxman are the most successful fifth-wicket pair in the history of Test cricket (among those who have batted together at least ten times). A striking feature is their tendency to carry on once they get a start -the 51-run stand in the second innings at Adelaide was the first time they didn't convert a fifty partnership into a hundred. Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad have an even better conversion rate, though, of eight hundreds and one fifty.

Most successful pairs for each wicket (min qual: 10 innings)

For	Pair	Runs	Inn.	Ave	100s	50s
1st wkt	Hobbs & Sutcliffe	3249	38	87.81	15	10
2nd wkt	Bradman & Woodfull	1579	15	105.27	7	3
3rd wkt	Miandad & Mudassar	1734	19	91.26	8	1
4th wkt	Barrington & Dexter	985	11	109.44	4	4
5th wkt	Dravid & Laxman	1185	16	84.64	5	1
6th wkt	Dujon & Lloyd	731	10	91.38	3	2

* * * * * *

More runs, more losses
Brian Lara's glorious double-hundred at Johannesburg continued an amazing run for him in overseas Tests that West Indies have lost. His scores in the last four such matches - starting with the first Test against Sri Lanka in 2001-02 - read 178, 40, 74, 45, 221, 130, 202 and 5: 895 runs at 111.88. Thanks to this glorious run, Lara's average in lost games overseas has shot up from a mere 30.26 to 41.51, the third-highest in the alltime list. Lara is also the only player to score a double-century twice in losing causes, while his six hundreds puts him in joint-top spot. As the table below shows, Lara has also been part of an extraordinarily high number of overseas defeats, an indication of just how miserably West Indies have performed abroad recently.

Top batsmen in overseas defeats (qual: min 10 Tests)

Player	Tests	Runs	Ave	100s
Hutton	12	1016	53.47	2
Hobbs	17	1743	52.82	6
Lara	29	2408	41.52	6
MAK Pataudi	10	821	41.05	1
Ponting	10	805	40.25	2
A Flower	20	1445	40.14	4
Haynes	11	842	40.1	3
Gavaskar	21	1602	40.05	6
S Waugh	22	1479	39.97	3
M Amarnath	15	1190	39.67	1

Current batsmen in overseas defeats (min qual: 10 Tests)

Player	Tests	Runs	Ave	100s
Tendulkar	23	1727	37.54	6
Bashar	16	1114	35.94	1
Kallis	11	732	34.86	0
Thorpe	13	794	31.76	1
Laxman	12	658	31.33	1
Dravid	17	969	31.26	1
Inzamam	18	1088	30.22	1

* * * * * *

One-way traffic
Andy Flintoff came to Sri Lanka with plenty of runs under his belt, but he has had a rather quiet time there. His tormentor in the series has been Muttiah Muralitharan, a former team-mate at Lancashire. Despite Flintoff's 77 in the first innings in Colombo - 11 of which were scored off Murali - he averages a mere seven against him in this series.

Murali v Flintoff in current series

Balls	Runs	Dismissals	Ave
105	28	4	7

That knock of 77 did help prop up Flintoff's appalling Test record in Asia, though. Before that innings, his Test stats on the subcontinent read: 62 runs from five matches, with a highest of 19 and an average of 6.88. After England's first innings, Flintoff's average in Asia has doubled to 14.9 - still not great, but heading in the right direction at last.