Hmm , for me the best opener of all time was Herb Sutcliffe , Hutton , Hobbs , Gavaskar , Boycott , Brown , Morris , Greenidge , Haynes , Woodful all not far behind.
From todays batch I reckon Gary Kirsten , except he dosent open any more.
All the other contenders have great records yet dont quite come up to the mark of Kirsten IMO.
Smith - Technically flawed outside his off stump , yet to play against good bowling or in trying conditions.
Hayden - Can be a little over attacking to the point of arrogance , there is still a question mark over his ability when the ball is swinging through the air.
Vaughan - Technically almost perfect & a great temperament , but his patience has been tested lately.
Gibbs - The technique has improved out of sight since his test debut , but he still has problems with his feet being glued to the crease when the ball moves late.
Lacks patience.
Atapattu - Technically perfect , flawless game against both the spinners & quick bowlers , a decent range of shots which are superb to watch , the patience to bat for long periods against the best bowlers.
Only problem is that he's a very nervous starter , and while the footwork is superb when he gets set , its often pretty ordinary early on.
Thus why he averages around 40 rather than 50.
Richardson - Technically very sound , apart from the gate he leaves when he tries to drive at balls from over the wicket , Ive seen him get bowled like that a few to many times for my likeing , its almost as though he's trying to get outside the line of the ball rather than hit straight through it.
He's the most patient batsman in the world though.
Sehwag - Has the most prodigious hand/eye coordination & can hit the ball a mile , but he still has the back foot flaw (McGrath just wasnt there to expose it this summer
) & basically no foot movement at all.
He's been bloody lucky for a major part of his carear & he lacks the patience to do well against the best bowlers.
Gayle - Again superb hand/eye coordination & great wrists , allow him to hit the ball very hard , he dosent have the obvious flaws of Sehwag & he is slightly more patient.
But still the footwork is hardly text book & it gets him into trouble sometimes.
Umar - Great temperament , great wrists & a wide range of shots when he wants to use them.
MASSIVE POTENTIAL , just one thing holding him back , the way he premeditates onto the front foot , Ive seen him do it alot & the commentators pick it up , he goes forward almost before the bowler releases & he can sky his backfoot shots as a result.
He gets away with it on the subcontinent & its easily fixed so shouldnt affect him provided he addresses it soon.
Hmm , ATM I'd pick Hayden & Atapattu as my opening combo.
But Id replace Hayden with Kirsten if he was still opening.
