Fifth Best Test Opener

[capt_Luffy]

Okay, let's try this one out. Most of the times, there's a general consensus on who are the 4 best Test openers (aka Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Sunil Gavaskar and Herbert Sutcliffe) but the fifth spot is generally up for grabs. So who is he? Is he the practical father of modern cricket and arguably the second greatest cricketer, W G Grace? Or his partner Arthur Shrewsbury? Or is he Australia's pre War superstar Victor Trumper? Or is he someone from the mid War period in Australian folk hero Bill Ponsford or Bill Woodfull? Or South African gun Bruce Mitchell or Don of the East Vijay Merchant? Or is he Aussie invincible stalwart Arthur Morris or compatriot Sid Barnes? Or the ones who carried Australia on their backs in some of their worst post War years in Bob Simpson or Bill Lawry? Or is he Asia's first World Class Test batsmen Hanif Mohammad? Or is he English wall Geoff Boycott? Or is he New Zealand's first great batsman Glenn Turner or Windies Conrad Hunte? Or is Test cricket's greatest loss Barry Richards? Or WI maestro Gordon Greenidge? Or the player to dominate the mighty Windies in Graham Gooch? Or South African post apartheid dependable Gary Kirsten? Or is he one of the 3 great modern openers in South Africa's versatile Graeme Smith, India's attacking Virendra Sehwag or Australia's dominant Mathew Hayden? Or is he the highest opener run scorer in Alaistar Cook? Or just scratch everything and Steve Smith is best?

 

[Coronis]

Okay, let's try this one out. Most of the times, there's a general consensus on who are the 4 best Test openers (aka Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Sunil Gavaskar and Herbert Sutcliffe) but the fifth spot is generally up for grabs. So who is he? Is he the practical father of modern cricket and arguably the second greatest cricketer, W G Grace? Or his partner Arthur Shrewsbury? Or is he Australia's pre War superstar Victor Trumper? Or is he someone from the mid War period in Australian folk hero Bill Ponsford or Bill Woodfull? Or South African gun Bruce Mitchell or Don of the East Vijay Merchant? Or is he Aussie invincible stalwart Arthur Morris or compatriot Sid Barnes? Or the ones who carried Australia on their backs in some of their worst post War years in Bob Simpson or Bill Lawry? Or is he Asia's first World Class Test batsmen Hanif Mohammad? Or is he English wall Geoff Boycott? Or is he New Zealand's first great batsman Glenn Turner or Windies Conrad Hunte? Or is Test cricket's greatest loss Barry Richards? Or WI maestro Gordon Greenidge? Or the player to dominate the mighty Windies in Graham Gooch? Or South African post apartheid dependable Gary Kirsten? Or is he one of the 3 great modern openers in South Africa's versatile Graeme Smith, India's attacking Virendra Sehwag or Australia's dominant Mathew Hayden? Or is he the highest opener run scorer in Alaistar Cook? Or just scratch everything and Steve Smith is best?

Smith > Khawaja confirmed

Also Trumper relatively sucked as an opener. Should’ve been a #5

 

[kyear2]

Smith > Khawaja confirmed

Also Trumper relatively sucked as an opener. Should’ve been a #5

Not yet, I'm pretty sure I said 20 tests?

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

Graeme Smith probably

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

Greenidge

 

[Line and Length]

The first 4 openers all were voted in the Top 10 in our 2022 poll. Disregarding Trumper, whose best form was MO, the only other openers ranked in the Top 50 were Boycott (29), Simpson (32), Smith (37), Sehwag (40), Haydn (41) and Greenidge (42). I would have ranked Greenidge a tad higher but the order is interesting.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Barry Richards obviously

 

[Coronis]

So regarding the opener SR discussion in the other thread, thought I might post a list of all these players test SR’s cos why not

Sehwag 82.23
Trumper 67.1
Hayden 60.10
Smith 59.67
Richards 59
Greenidge 50
Gooch 49
Cook 46.95
Ponsford 46
Simpson 44
Kirsten 43.43
Grace 43
Morris 42
Barnes 41.0
Merchant 40
Hunte 39
Lawry 38.8
Boycott 35.4
Woodfull 34
Shrewsbury 34
Hanif 33
Turner 33
Mitchell 30.9

Seems @Bolo. was right on the money.

Saddest stat I found is regarding over rates though. Grace (SR 43) scored at 30 runs per hour. Sehwag (SR 82) scored at 32 runs per hour.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Greenidge or Graeme Smith I think

 

[Johan]

It's Boyc, followed by Greenidge.

 

[Thala_0710]

I'd go Boycott as well

 

[kyear2]

Barry Richards obviously

Well Barry probably is best, but I could accept 5th

 

[ma1978]

Greenidge

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Rajendra Chandrika

 

[Slifer]

I tend to go with Boycott, Smith, Gordon then the rest. Others I rate highly include: Saeed, Simpson, Sehwag, and Hayden.

 

[Coronis]

The first 4 openers all were voted in the Top 10 in our 2022 poll. Disregarding Trumper, whose best form was MO, the only other openers ranked in the Top 50 were Boycott (29), Simpson (32), Smith (37), Sehwag (40), Haydn (41) and Greenidge (42). I would have ranked Greenidge a tad higher but the order is interesting.

And for comparison, in the 2024 poll..

Smith (30)
Boycott (34)
Greenidge (35)
Sehwag (39)
Hayden (45)
Simpson (47)
Mitchell (50)

Tbh the forum as a whole did seem on a pretty big Smith high at that point.

Personally I don’t think there is much between Simpson/Greenidge/Hayden/Sehwag/Smith and I’m fine with any due to personal preference, except Boycs. Think he is a slight step above the others.

 

[Slifer]

On further review, I'll have to go with Sir Geoffrey. Solid solid performer. Also, solid record home and away vs most teams.

 

[sayon basak]

If this weren't about tests only, it easily would've been Barry Richards. And guess Steve Smith is a pure joke option. Boycott and Greenidge might be the answer, but going for WG and Trumper as a romantic pick anyway.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Greenidge. Then any of Smith/ Sehwag/ Boycott/ Hayden.