• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Who would you pick as your 2 Test openers from 21st Century?

Best 2 Test openers of 21st Century


  • Total voters
    47

The Battlers Prince

International Vice-Captain
I’m not a massive Smith fan, he wasn’t that impressive against quality on a regular basis.

Do we have a link to his outstanding innings?
 

The Battlers Prince

International Vice-Captain
Yeah he toured well in England. Doesn’t have much of a record against Australia, India or Sri Lanka. Definitely up there and can see he’s done well, especially fourth innings digs at times though
 

Bolo

State Captain
Yeah he toured well in England. Doesn’t have much of a record against Australia, India or Sri Lanka. Definitely up there and can see he’s done well, especially fourth innings digs at times though
He had a couple of good matches in AUS around 2008/2012.

Not so much I can remember vs Lanka and India- was seriously weak against left arm pace and not great against spin.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Hayden's average shoots up to 53 when you only include the 21st century

It's just a question of you pair with him
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Smith's average against Australia isn't great but he had some wonderful performances against them in key matches. He was awesome in the 2008 series win in Australia where he won MotS (scored a hundred to set up the 400+ runchase at perth, two fiftis at melbourne to seal the series, and batted with a broken hand to try and save the third test), also scored a hundred in the 4th innings to win that crazy 47 allout test in 2011, and a brilliant counterattacking 80 odd in Perth in 2012 which got completely overshadowed by Amla's great knock, but Smith was the one who started that blitz and by the time he was out SA were pretty much in an unbeatable position.

Average schmaverage, Smith's record against Australia is fine, all things considered.
 

vcs

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Smith's average against Australia isn't great but he had some wonderful performances against them in key matches. He was awesome in the 2008 series win in Australia where he won MotS (scored a hundred to set up the 400+ runchase at perth, two fiftis at melbourne to seal the series, and batted with a broken hand to try and save the third test), also scored a hundred in the 4th innings to win that crazy 47 allout test in 2011, and a brilliant counterattacking 80 odd in Perth in 2012 which got completely overshadowed by Amla's great knock, but Smith was the one who started that blitz and by the time he was out SA were pretty much in an unbeatable position.

Average schmaverage, Smith's record against Australia is fine, all things considered.
Yes, he did very well in those 2-3 series, especially 2008. You have to take the captaincy into account as well. I guess he must have had some very poor ones as well to bring that average down to the early 30s.
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Yes, he did very well in those 2-3 series, especially 2008. You have to take the captaincy into account as well. I guess he must have had some very poor ones as well to bring that average down to the early 30s.
This average vs a certain country thing gets skewed a lot for players who play their first/last series against that particular team I've noticed. Smith got owned by Johnson in his final series which brought that average down a lot. Not that those series shouldnt count of course but it can be misleading.
 

StephenZA

Hall of Fame Member
Smith started his career against Aus and ended against them in SA. Did alright in Aus itself not great at home. Of course he also faced the infamous Johnson barrage in his last series.
 

vcs

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I remember Johnson bowling some fiery spells and breaking some bones in 2009 also.
 

srbhkshk

International Captain
Smith just struggled against left arm pacers in general tbh. Was basically a free wicket for Zaheer very time.
literally couldn't play that in-swinger if his life depended on it.. and would end up in hilariously awkward positions to boot. Still the best opener of the 4 being mentioned imo.

I'd go with Smith and Sehwag for the original question.
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
So you don't like Hayden basically. Because Langer was not a better batsman than Hayden.
I think he was, significantly better against pace. If given a choice as an opener anywhere in the world bar India and SL, i'd choose Langer over Hayden.
 

Hicheal Michael

U19 Captain
Langer was similiar to Smith in a sense they both had better SR's than many seem to remember.

Langer in his last few years was a more fluent scorer than Hayden.
 
Last edited:

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Hayden's average shoots up to 53 when you only include the 21st century

It's just a question of you pair with him
Yeah who you pair with him depends on conditions really. Probably just Sehwag in Asia and Smith everywhere else.
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Smith's average against Australia isn't great but he had some wonderful performances against them in key matches. He was awesome in the 2008 series win in Australia where he won MotS (scored a hundred to set up the 400+ runchase at perth, two fiftis at melbourne to seal the series, and batted with a broken hand to try and save the third test), also scored a hundred in the 4th innings to win that crazy 47 allout test in 2011, and a brilliant counterattacking 80 odd in Perth in 2012 which got completely overshadowed by Amla's great knock, but Smith was the one who started that blitz and by the time he was out SA were pretty much in an unbeatable position.

Average schmaverage, Smith's record against Australia is fine, all things considered.
Similarly Hayden's average against South Africa is deceptive. In his last tour there he set up the series for Australia with his batting. Scored a key 90 and then a key 50 in our wins in low scoring games. His average doesn't reflect how important his batting was in Australian series victories.
 

Bolo

State Captain
Hayden in 2001 was the most significant series for a bat against RSA that I know of.

Very strong RSA team. Batted deep as usual, but had a solid top for the first time. Outstanding bowling, including (at that stage, seemingly) the greatest new ball partnership ever. Supposed to be an ultra competitive showdown for number 1, but Hayden killed every match.

Other than this, he faced some garbage RSA attacks on his prime and did ok. And some good ones when not at his best and did really badly.

Hayden is tough to rank. Im not sure if he ever had a notable series against a quality pace attack away. But he hardly got any chances when in form.

A bully, but I still voted for him
 

Top