cricket

India's new opening batsman, V.V.S. Laxman, has got his name down on a fairly exclusive list -- but at the same time one on which he probably wishes he wasn't. He is one of 20 batsmen in the history of Test cricket to get into double figures in an innings and see the other 10 fail to do so.

India have the unhappy distinction of having made this list twice this season; Rahul Dravid was the lone one to enter double figures with 27 not out when the team collapsed for 66 in the second innings of the first Test against South Africa late last year.

The list (I/T stands for individual score/team score):

I/T	Batsman	Country	Opposition	Venue	Year
17/45	George Lohmann	England	Australia	Sydney	1886-87
10/42	Thomas Garret	Australia	England	Sydney	1886-87
26*/47	Augustus Tencred	South Africa	England	Cape Town	1888-89
11/43	Frederick Smith	South Africa	England	Cape Town	1888-89
10/30	Robert Poore	South Africa	England	Port Elizabeth	1888-89
16/44	Thomas McKibbun	Australia	England	The Oval	1896
11/35	Albert Powell	South Africa	England	Cape Town	1898-99
18/36	Victor Trumper	Australia	England	Birmingham	1902
13/58	Arthur Nourse	South Africa	England	Lord's	1912
11/36	Horace Cameron	South Africa	Australia	Melbourne	1931-32
16/45	Sydney Curnow	South Africa	Australia	Melbourne	1931-32
30/52	Len Hutton	England	Australia	The Oval	1948
11/26	Bert Sutcliffe	New Zealand	England	Auckland	1954-55
18*/42	Eknath Solkar	India	England	Lord's	1975
20/71	David Steele	England	West Indies	Manchester	1976
26/72	Sarfraz Nawaz	Pakistan	Australia	Perth	1981-82
18/46	Alec Stewart	England	West Indies	Port of Spain	1993-94
19/71	P. Dassanayake	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Kandy	1994-95
27*/66	Rahul Dravid	India	South Africa	Durban	1996-97
19/81	V.V.S. Laxman	India	West Indies	Bridgetown	1996-97