Australia's Opening Batsman

[Fuller Pilch]

Top 10 would be like:
1. Victor Trumper
2. Mathew Hayden
3. Arthur Morris
4. Bill Ponsford
5. David Warner
6. Justin Langer
7. Mark Taylor
8. Sid Barnes
9. Bob Simpson
10.Bill Lawry

Is this in order? Surely Simpson & Lawry are both in the top 4 or 5?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I don't think Dean Jones ever opened, or if he did it was an aberration. He was generally a no.5 or 6 in Tests I believe

Batted a lot at 3 and 4 as well. He was at 3 in the series when he trash talked Hadlee and then Hadlee owned him. He was also at 3 when he got his famous double hundy in India.

Was at 5 later in his career when Taylor started opening with Marsh and Boon went to 3.

 

[Prince EWS]

1 Simpson
2 Trumper
3 Morris
4 Lawry
5 Ponsford
6 Woodfull
7 Hayden
8 Brown
9 Redpath
10 Taylor

Assorted others I'd take before Khawaja: Langer, Bardsley, Slater, McDonald, Warner.

How much did Boon open? Maybe him too.

 

[Line and Length]

While I rate Victor Trumper I believe his best performances came when batting at 5 and 6 plus a handful of knocks at 3. As an opener he averaged 33 - well below his overall test average.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Is this in order? Surely Simpson & Lawry are both in the top 4 or 5?

I didn't ranked them necessarily from like Ponsford onwards; but I do have Trumper, Hayden, Morris and Ponsford over them and Warner, Langer, Taylor, Barnes and Woodfull on par with them. Though to rank, I would probably put Simpson, then Warner, then Langer and then Lawry.

 

[East Bay Ray]

Mate, if you’re rating graeme wood a better batsman than either Jaques or Rogers then you’re kidding yourself

Nahh, not kidding myself.
"Yes No Sorry" could bat and faced some v good attacks. Not a top echelon guy, but would have made just about any other team apart from Windies at the time.
He just preferred to bat all by himself out in the middle.

 

[Burgey]

But not for very long…

Mate he averaged 31 in 60 odd tests. It’s Marcus Harris/ Cameron Bancroft levels except it’s worse because he was given 60 tests instead of the dozen he should have got.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Don't forget that Jacques was very, very good but only for a really brief period around 2005-2008 IIRC. Before that he was a club batsman and afterwards he wasn't fit enough to stay on the park

 

[honestbharani]

I just remember his name was pronounced Jakes by the comms and it was esp funny when Kallis was playing the same game.

 

[loterry1994]

Uzzy has had an alright career don’t have him close to the top 10 Aussie openers though. Pretty inconsistent earlier in his career but thought selectors should have given him a longer run to prove himself and not drop him that many times. Has had a good late resurgence in his career.

with his technique think it’s pretty lazy at times he doesn’t have much footwork and his running between the wickets is atrocious. Think they’re a big reason why he got dropped a lot and didn’t get much of a chance in the short formats also.

 

[Coronis]

Don't forget that Jacques was very, very good but only for a really brief period around 2005-2008 IIRC. Before that he was a club batsman and afterwards he wasn't fit enough to stay on the park

Tbh forgot which thread I was in and assumed you were talking someone else.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Phil Jaques > Jacques Kallis

Phil won 73% of the Tests he played in, Kallis only won 49% (pathetic)

 

[Coronis]

Phil Jaques > Jacques Kallis

Phil won 73% of the Tests he played in, Kallis only won 49% (pathetic)

He also struck at 54 rather than 46. Far more aggressive and much more of a match winner.