The Australian anomaly to Test cricket's opening conundrum

In the six Test matches this season thus far, we have seen five team totals of 400 or more - 416, 475, 498, 566 and 589 - in 22 innings. Has the old adage of 'good starts are imperative for setting up huge totals' gone for a toss? Of the five totals above, the highest opening stand was 56 - when the team ended scoring 416 - the lowest of the five totals. Let us now see in detail how the teams have done in the recent past with their opening wicket stands.


NOTE: All stats in this article exclude matches involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. All stats updated till matches starting before 29 July 2016.

Average opening stands for each team since January 2015

Team	Innings	Combos	Runs	Average	Run rate	100s/50s	Highest
Australia	30	3	1729	59.62	4.45	9/3	237
England	42	6	1282	30.52	2.88	3/4	177
India	16	4	278	18.53	2.90	0/2	80*
New Zealand	20	2	794	39.70	3.21	1/6	148
Pakistan	16	4	380	25.33	3.06	1/2	101
South Africa	16	5	318	19.87	2.86	0/1	53
Sri Lanka	29	5	740	25.51	2.75	1/3	108
West Indies	23	3	376	16.34	2.49	0/0	35

As one can see the table above, barring Australia, most of the teams have struggled at the top of the order. In fact, Australia have been excellent in this time period averaging just under 60, almost 20 runs per stand ahead of the next placed team. Not only have they scored runs, they have done it at a rapid pace too. Like the average, their run rate also stands out from the rest. They score at 4.45 per over for the first wicket, more than a run ahead of the next placed New Zealand (3.21). Pakistan is the only other team to score above three, thanks largely to the fact that they played a bulk of their game in the subcontinent where they have scored at 3.39 as compared to 2.28 in the two Tests in England this summer.

Australia have had nine stands of hundred or more which makes it nearly one every three innings. The rest of the sides put together have only six century partnerships for the first wicket, of which three are by England alone. Australia have scored at 5.08 per over at home at 80.33 per stand. And while away, their numbers stand at 3.85 and 45.33 respectively.

The teams which have really struggled with their opening partnerships are India, South Africa and West Indies. Between the three, they have three stands of fifty or higher with a best of 80. All three average below 20 per stand and score at below three an over - India (2.90), South Africa (2.86) and West Indies (2.49).

Average team totals when opening stands cross fifty (since Jan 2015)

Team	< 50	50+	Difference
Australia	348	664	316
England	315	552	237
India	333	295	-38
New Zealand	327	453	126
Pakistan	321	413	92
South Africa	264	174	-90
Sri Lanka	252	297	45
West Indies	244	NA	NA

*West Indies' highest opening stand is 35
From the table above we can see that a good opening stand invariably leads to a higher score for the team. When the first wicket falls before fifty, the average second wicket stand is 36. It shoots up to 63 once the first wicket stand goes past 50 (since Jan 2015). As we can figure out from the above table, team totals sharply rise after a good first wicket stand. Out of the 12 times Australia registered fifty-plus stand for the first wicket, they were dismissed only thrice (for 253, 308 and 481) while they declared their innings on remaining nine occasions. Similarly for England, the lowest they were dismissed, after a first wicket stand of fifty or more, was 350.
 
The two teams having a negative difference are India and South Africa. This is largely because of the fact that the sample size is small. India have had just two fifty-plus stands and South Africa one. South Africa scored 215 in Durban after Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl put on 53 for the first wicket while India got bundled out for 174 after a 50-run opening stand between Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay. At Bengaluru against South Africa, the match was rained off after India reached 80 without loss at the end of Day 1.

There are 17 totals of 500-plus since 2015 - nine of which came after an opening stand of fifty or more. Interestingly, when a team has had a fifty or more opening stand, they have been dismissed below 200 only twice. On the other hand, there have been 34 instances of a team getting dismissed for totals below 200 when they fail to put on an opening stand in excess of 50.
 
Teams have also gone on to win games when the opening stand was substantial. For Australia, five wins out of ten came when the opening stand crossed fifty in at least one innings. For England, three resulted in wins while three ended in a stalemate and they lost only one. Pakistan have five wins since 2015 and all three instances of a fifty-plus stand for the opening wicket resulted in wins. The only aberration is Sri Lanka who have two losses, one win and a draw each for their four half-century opening stands.
 
Difference between average opening partnership and average of openers
 

Team	Players	Inns	Ave	SR	100s/50s	Average 1st wicket stand	Difference
Australia	4	60	51.68	67.97	9/15	59.62	7.94
England	7	84	35.82	46.1	5/17	30.52	-5.3
India	4	32	40.41	47.21	4/4	18.53	-21.88
New Zealand	3	40	32.87	50.13	2/7	39.70	6.83
Pakistan	4	32	34.06	54.27	2/4	25.33	-8.73
South Africa	6	32	27.23	43.34	2/1	19.87	-7.36
Sri Lanka	6	58	29.50	44.65	3/9	25.51	-3.99
West Indies	4	46	22.95	42.12	1/4	16.34	-6.61

All of Australia's specialist openers have done quite well during this period - David Warner (51), Chris Rogers (63.10) and Joe Burns (48.26). The only other opener with an average upwards of fifty with at least 10 innings during this period is Alastair Cook (53.35). The problem for England, however, has been Cook's partners. Hales averages 28.47, Adam Lyth 20.38, Moeen Ali 14.00 and Jonathan Trott 12.00. Since Andrew Strauss' retirement in 2012, England have used eight different players to partner Cook, the only one to average above 40 is the Cook-Nick Compton pair.
Dimuth Karunaratne of Sri Lanka has batted 26 innings during this period, only behind Cook and David Warner. However, consistency has eluded him as he averages only 35.68. His opening partnerships with Kaushal Silva average below 25 after 20 innings. In comparison, New Zealand openers Martin Guptill and Tom Latham have been more steady than spectacular. Latham averages 34.15 while Guptill slightly below at 30.88, but their combination has 38.22 runs per stand. They have six fifty-plus stands in 18 innings i.e. one in every three innings.
Two teams with persistent problems at the top of the order are West Indies and Pakistan. Pakistan have used four different opening combinations in eight Tests. While Mohammad Hafeez has done well in Asia. Averaging a touch under 60, he has been more or less a walking wicket in foreign conditions. His partners all average below 30 - Shan Masood (26.70), Ahmed Shehzad (28.60) and Azhar Ali (17.00). West Indies have been the poorest team in this period averaging 16.34 and scoring at 2.49 - both being the lowest among all teams. They have been so far, highlighted by the fact that their opening stands haven't gone beyond 35 in 23 innings with six ending between 30 and 35.
Best opening pairs since Jan 2015 (min 10 innings)

Partners	Inns	Runs	High	Ave	100s/50s
J Burns/ D Warner(Aus)	15	837	237	55.80	4/1
C Rogers/D Warner(Aus)	11	720	200	72.00	4/2
M Guptill/T Latham(NZ)	18	688	148	38.22	1/5
D Karunaratne/K Silva(SL)	21	490	108	23.33	1/1
A Cook/A Hales(Eng)	16	485	68	30.31	0/4
A Cook/A Lyth(Eng)	13	402	177	30.92	1/0

Average opening partnerships each year since 2010

© Cricbuzz

History shows how good Australia have been at the top of the order. Even after the retirement of legendary Matthew Hayden-Justin Langer pair, they have still maintained quality at the top with David Warner establishing himself as one of the best contemporary openers. South Africa averaged between 36 and 48 in the years culminating till the retirement of Graeme Smith. But since, they have struggled to find solidity at the top. The same can be said about England after Andrew Strauss hung up his boots. They averaged above 35 till 2012 - the year he retired - but never went beyond that mark since.
India had a fantastic 2010 when they were the No. 1 Test team in the world. The openers - Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir - averaged nearly 56 and scored at 4.66 per over. Sehwag - Murali Vijay pair also did well, scoring at 51.85 per stand at 4.58 per over in seven innings. But from 2011, their failures invariably coincided with the team's decline before it lead to the sacking of both Sehwag and Gambhir. Average opening stands for India are on a freefall - 23.40 in 2014 and 18.85 in 2015.
The stats reveal just how imperative the performances of openers is for the success of a Test team, a fact also underlined by Australia's rise to the No. 1 position in the same period.