The_CricketUmpire
State 12th Man
Interested to see what you vote for.
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Test Opening Batters
- Thread starter The_CricketUmpire
- Start date
Lillian Thomson
Hall of Fame Member
If you’re Zak Crawley and connected, about 23.
The_CricketUmpire
State 12th Man
Michael Atherton scored a total of 7,728 runs in his career @ 37.69. However in the role as an opening batsman (number 1/number 2 position) he scored 7,476 runs @ 39.14
Howe_zat
Audio File
I’m sure you could find a test opener who averaged 30-35 for a while and was better than the alternatives. Sometimes it’s just about doing a job.
If your test team is Ireland or early Bangladesh you’ll take whatever you can get, if they dropped a guy who averages 35 it’d be crazy.
If your test team is Ireland or early Bangladesh you’ll take whatever you can get, if they dropped a guy who averages 35 it’d be crazy.
trundler
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Averaging 38 opening against world class attacks most of the time is just short of world class level. Especially in a place like SA or England. It's not far off what Smith, Cook, Kirsten etc averaged opening at home. You'd expect a player like that to capitalise on easier conditions to get his average over 40 though. Suppose if such a batsman never chanced upon soft runs you could argue he's better than Hayden. ?
Coronis
International Coach
I mean it all depends on the strength of the country’s batting at the time, its impossible to just pick a minimum average. For example, Tamim Iqbal averages 39 opening for Bangladesh, but would barely have played for some other teams. Imrul Kayes (24.5) wouldn’t have even been considered for most teams but was the best Bangladesh had available. “Acceptable” is dependant on too many factors without any specific criteria.
_00_deathscar
International Regular
Trundler in shock "Michael Atherton was just short of world class" admission.
Interestingly, Atherton averaged a fair few points higher at home than he did away from home.
His record from 1990-2000 also isn't all that bad at all, averaging 40.86 opening, and:
32.06 vs Australia (okay not great)
48.66 vs Pakistan
43.83 vs South Africa
33.84 vs Windies (okay not great)
He actually failed to capitalise vs Zimbabwe (37.50 across 4 tests) and Sri Lanka (7.50 but just the solitary test). Never played Bangladesh.
Did very well vs India and NZ
flibbertyjibber
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For England I'd take 2 averaging 32 thanks seeing as we never replaced Strauss never mind Cook.
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
WG only averaged 32 and is one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
Trevor Franklin opened in 21 tests for NZ and only averaged 23, but did an excellent job. His strike rate was extremely slow (only 26.44!), but he had good opening partnerships with John Wright, and saw off the new ball so that Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe had a base to work from.
Franklin was a million times better than most NZ openers who followed him.
Franklin was a million times better than most NZ openers who followed him.
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
Also Kraigg Brathwaite averages just under 35, yet is a quality player.
It's a very valid point about how many balls an opener takes to score his runs.
30 off 70 is often more valuable than 30 at a run a ball.
thierry henry
International Coach
I work with Trevor, I’ll tell him you said that
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
How tall is he? He looked massive when I watched him on tv as a kid/teen.
Coronis
International Coach
Just for consideration the top 4 openers of all time SR’s were (based on Charles Davis’ stats)
Hobbs 51
Gavaskar 45
Hutton 38
Sutcliffe 37
In terms of modern openers, Warner's an outlier in terms of general average but then there's a 25 run difference between his home and away averages.
Elgar and Latham are on the next rung but are also flat track bullies (though those 'flat tracks' are anything but in reality).
Karunaratne and Brathwaite are probably at the same level, carrying their teams and have more interesting nuance in home and away records. Brathwaite has pretty much identical records home and away and Karunratne's away record may only be 30 but that will include a lot of unfamilar environments.
Has Rohit Sharma opened throughout his Test career? I'd assume not and his home and away averages are ridiculous far apart (73 vs 31), so despite an average in the mid-40s, I'm less sure about how great an opener I think he is. Testing conditions are probably not his strength.
Otherwise, lots of openers early in their careers to say too much about.
Elgar and Latham are on the next rung but are also flat track bullies (though those 'flat tracks' are anything but in reality).
Karunaratne and Brathwaite are probably at the same level, carrying their teams and have more interesting nuance in home and away records. Brathwaite has pretty much identical records home and away and Karunratne's away record may only be 30 but that will include a lot of unfamilar environments.
Has Rohit Sharma opened throughout his Test career? I'd assume not and his home and away averages are ridiculous far apart (73 vs 31), so despite an average in the mid-40s, I'm less sure about how great an opener I think he is. Testing conditions are probably not his strength.
Otherwise, lots of openers early in their careers to say too much about.
Lillian Thomson
Hall of Fame Member
72.57 is the obvious benchmark to aspire to.