Battle For the Worst Opening Batsman of the 2000-Present Era.

[SillyCowCorner1]

Johnson Charles is simply a poor man's Evin Lewis. At the beginning of his career, I thought that Lewis was just another hack, but his recent exploits have changed my opinion of him.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Any WI opener not named Chris Gayle or Kraig Braithwaite

Came in to say this. West Indies have been the kings of terrible openers

 

[CricAddict]

It was unusual cirumstances and a one-off to be sure, but the worst batsman to open a Test innings this century would surely have to be Morne Morkel.

In the same way, it should be Kuruvilla in the 90s.

 

[andruid]

Ravindu Shah of Kenya was a mug with the bat

He had a FC average in the 40s, and is one of only 5? Kenyan cricketers with an ODI ton. You swing and missed there.

 

[CricAddict]

I had a look to see who each nation's worst opener has been in the time and came up with

Bangladesh - Mehrab Hossain
England - Adam Lyth
India - Aakash Chopra
New Zealand - Craig Cumming
Pakistan - Shan Masood
Sri Lanka - Lahiru Thirimanne
South Africa - Stiaan van Zyl
West Indies - Rajendra Chandrika
Zimbabwe - Stuart Matsikenyeri

The worst opener from Australia with more than a couple of innings is actually Ed Cowan, who averaged a just-about-acceptable 33. It's remarkable that not once in nearly 20 years have the Australians had a bloke come in at the top of the order for half a dozen tests and make a pig's ear of it, everyone else has had several.

Not Mehrab. I have not checked the stats but I remember well that Mehrab was talked up as the best bat to come out of Bangladesh in his time. But then faded away.

 

[_Ed_]

Not Mehrab. I have not checked the stats but I remember well that Mehrab was talked up as the best bat to come out of Bangladesh in his time. But then faded away.

This might have something to do with that: The Day That Still Haunts Mehrab- The New Indian Express

 

[RK_123]

Alastair Cook

 

[ma1978]

Devang Gandhi played one ODI in the 2000s. Surely he was the worst.

I

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Alex Hales was kinda bad.

He was actually good going by our recent standards. Probably did more than most since Strauss retired. Not that he should get another chance as an opener.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Came in to say this. West Indies have been the kings of terrible openers

England run them close.

 

[straw man]

Came in to say this. West Indies have been the kings of terrible openers

England run them close.

Look at this rank and biased posting. How dare you take the undisputed title of most consistently useless test openers this century from its rightful and only holders, New Zealand.

Nicol, Spearman, H Marshall, Horne, Papps, Flynn, Redmond, Watling, How, J Marshall, Cumming, Fulton, Rutherford, Guptill, McIntosh, Vincent
... all averaged sub-30 in the opening position since 1 Jan 2000.

 

[S.Kennedy]

It will be a dark day when A. Cook retires.

 

[quincywagstaff]

In the same way, it should be Kuruvilla in the 90s.

Or in the 1980s, Peter Taylor.

EDIT: Actually, Taylor had a higher average than John Dyson so he wasn't even the worst Oz opening bat that decade!

 

[morgieb]

Haha it's crazy the amount of countries that seem to produce terribad openers on demand. New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies, England post-Strauss, and that's not even counting Zimbabwe/Bangladesh!

 

[TheJediBrah]

Look at this rank and biased posting. How dare you take the undisputed title of most consistently useless test openers this century from its rightful and only holders, New Zealand.

Nicol, Spearman, H Marshall, Horne, Papps, Flynn, Redmond, Watling, How, J Marshall, Cumming, Fulton, Rutherford, Guptill, McIntosh, Vincent
... all averaged sub-30 in the opening position since 1 Jan 2000.

**** me that's an impressive list

 

[straw man]

gotta take pride when you truly excel at something

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Whatever happened to Wasim Jaffer?

I thought that dude would be a great long term opening solution for India. If I can recall, he made a double century in tests?

 

[Cabinet96]

Look at this rank and biased posting. How dare you take the undisputed title of most consistently useless test openers this century from its rightful and only holders, New Zealand.

Nicol, Spearman, H Marshall, Horne, Papps, Flynn, Redmond, Watling, How, J Marshall, Cumming, Fulton, Rutherford, Guptill, McIntosh, Vincent
... all averaged sub-30 in the opening position since 1 Jan 2000.

Think Guptill should probably take the title based mainly on the fact he's opened so many more innings than anyone else on the list.

 

[CricAddict]

Whatever happened to Wasim Jaffer?

I thought that dude would be a great long term opening solution for India. If I can recall, he made a double century in tests?

Sehwag and Gambhir happened. Jaffer couldn't translate his domestic form to international cricket and then those 2 took over while he continued to dominate domestic.

 

[straw man]

Think Guptill should probably take the title based mainly on the fact he's opened so many more innings than anyone else on the list.

I am torn on this. Over his time opening he contributed the greatest aggregate quantity of ****ness, however he was also mainly selected because any potential replacements were even more **** than him on an individual basis.

It's really the ATG cricketweb debate on being a superstar for a short time vs longevity, but in reverse .