It appears that Simon Hughes rates Goochie rather highly as the best ever
English opener...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/7964335/England-v-Pakistan-Alastair-Cook-and-Andrew-Strauss-can-rewrite-record-books.htmlContrast though, the intimidating bowlers Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton had to face.
The characters belong more to a Scorsese movie – Ambrose, Marshall, Walsh, Patterson, Hadlee, Wasim, Waqar, Donald, McGrath. Kapil Dev was an absolute pleasure by comparison.
Managing to achieve an average opening partnership of 56.84 against various combinations of that lot is almost worthy of a St George medal.
They achieved with courage, no little skill and total bloody mindedness. Not surprisingly the pair have one of the lowest win ratios of England opening partnerships. No wonder they both sometimes wear the hunted look.
Gooch's tally of 8,900 Test runs (ave 42) in the 20 years when opposition fast bowling was at its absolute apex gives him bragging rights over any other English batsman.
Hughes finishes by saying... (talking about English openers only)
Where does that leave the debate then? In the end it depends what you want from your opening pair. If it is security, go for Atherton and Gooch. For victory – Strauss and Trescothick.
For consistency – Hobbs and Sutcliffe. Regardless of what Cook and Strauss achieve this week, the old masters retain their supremacy. But the list also throws up one other surprise.
All England's top opening pairs (and the prolific ones from other countries) bat the same way round.
Who says that right-hand/left-hand is the perfect opening combination?
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18 (20.5%)
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Topic: Crickets Best Ever Opener (Read 12636 times)