Like in the case of ODI cricket we discussed the Top 10 best opening pairs in ODI cricket history, now is the time to give the sane love to test cricket and see which are the Top 10 in test cricket history. Opening partnerships in test cricket are the most important out of any of the formats of cricket as the opening batters have to play out the new ball and give a solid start to the test innings as well.
Test cricket has a long and rich 140+ years of history so there have been many opening pairs who have done really well over the year for their nations so to make a spot in this top 10 list is not easy at all. Let’s look at the Top 10 best opening pairs in test cricket history.
1. Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes (6482 Runs):
This is one of the rare opening pairs that feature in the Top 10 of both the ODI and test cricket best opening pairs list. This shows how great they were together. In the 148 innings that they batted together in test cricket they scored close to 6500 runs and had 16 century opening partnerships for West Indies. They were clearly the best opening pair in the history of test cricket.
2. Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer (5655 Run):
The best opening pair for Australia in their impressive test cricket history are these two dynamic left handed batters. They were very destructive and knew how to torment the opposition. They batted together as an opening pair for 113 innings and they had 14 century plus opening partnerships between them for Australia.
3. Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss (4711 Runs):
No opening pair from England was on the ODI list but that is not the case with test cricket as these two great batters formed a legendary opening partnership for England in which they batted together in 117 innings and 12 times they had a hundred plus partnership and they won England a lot of test matches together and they were revered by everyone.
4. Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya (4469 Runs):
This pair was much lower in the ODI list but their presence in the top half of this list shows that they were excellent openers in test cricket for Sri Lanka and they batted together for 118 innings and 9 times out of those they managed to score a century partnership thus giving Sri Lanka the much needed start.
5. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag (4412 Runs):
The first opening partnership from India to feature on this list shows that these two were great together as Gautam would stick out and play long whereas Sehwag would go from ball one of the innings. They batted together for India in 87 innings and had 11 century opening partnerships between them and they were very successful overseas as well giving India the perfect start.
Check out here Best test knocks of Gautam Gambhir
6. Michael Slater and Mark Taylor (3887 Runs):
This legendary opening partnership for Australia is on this list and these two were great together as they complimented each other really well. They opened the innings for Australia 78 times and out of those 78 times they had 10 century opening partnerships between them and they used to put Australia in a dominating position in test matches.
7. Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson (3596 Runs):
This is the first pair on this list to feature from the 1960s era of test cricket and these two were the best of that time and Australia dominated test cricket that time thanks to them. They batted together for 62 innings and they got to a 100 partnership 9 times which is very impressive. Lucky are those fans that got to see them live.
8. Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe (3249 Runs):
This legendary opening pair from England only batted together for 38 innings and they got these many runs together which goes to show how dominant they were and no one could get them out. They scored 15 century opening partnerships out of 38 innings which is absolutely mind-boggling and will not be repeated ever.
9. Chetan Chauhan and Sunil Gavaskar (3010 Runs):
From 1973-1981, this opening pair was one of the best going around and their numbers prove it. They batted together for India in 59 innings and they scored 10 century run opening partnerships for India and won many test matches for India as well.
10. Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith (2983 Runs):
This is the best opening pair from South Africa in their test cricket history and both of them gelled very well together and gave South Africa great starts. They batted together for 56 innings and scored 7 hundred plus opening partnerships and South Africa cricket was better with these two at the top of the order.
