Better Test opener, Hayden or Gooch?

[BazBall21]

Think it’s pretty viable to say a similar career may have happened to Hayden if he had to bat in England, Gooch didn’t do great in Australia either but better there than Hayden in England. Like to bump Gooch up for his ability against quality attacks but can only go so far when considering his pre-1990 output, and don’t find him technically the most convincing either (though again same can be said for Hayden to some extent).
They share the same distinction of being pretty good at bullying spin.

 

[Xuhaib]

I had a chat to him the other day about the CA website ripping off his FCA thing and calling it a world-first stat. He seems in good spirits - I don't think he's following cricket much at the moment though.

Its a shame he has lost interest in cricket would have been nice to see his views on bazball and the turnaround in England white ball fortune in last 7 years

 

[BazBall21]

Hayden has won so will vote Gooch? as he has a better record against strong bowling

 

[jcas0167]

Have to be honest, I think Gooch was a much, much better player than Hayden. If he'd been in the Aussie system of the 1990s/2000s, played on the same pitches and faced the same attacks, he would have averaged 50+.

That's a purely subjective opinion, I am sure others will have stats to contest it.

Yeah, Gooch definitely played in a harder era for openers. The hardest test in that time were the Windies and he played some incredible innings against them. The 154 not out in 1991 is one of the all time great innings. I wasn't aware of this one against an equally formidable Windies attack in 1980. Next highest score was 42. It seems he worked with Boycott after the 89 Ashes on his technique and averaged 51 over his last 5 seasons of test cricket.

Gooch scored a memorable maiden Test century against a West Indian pace battery that included Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, and Colin Croft. Gooch’s 123, off 162 deliveries in 211 minutes, were scored out of 165 when Gooch was second out.

 

[BazBall21]

Yeah, Gooch definitely played in a harder era for openers. The hardest test in that time were the Windies and he played some incredible innings against them. The 154 not out in 1991 is one of the all time great innings. I wasn't aware of this one against an equally formidable Windies attack in 1980. Next highest score was 42.

His 1980/81 tour of WI is my favourite. Twice scored over 50% of the runs in an innings.