5 batsmen who became famous thanks to their opening partners
Cricket is a team sport and it generally requires a good effort from more than one individual to pull off a victory. This is a logic which applies to all three departments of the game – batting, bowling and fielding. When it comes to batting, it is necessary for the best players in the team to receive support from other batsmen so that they can accomplish the task they have at hand.
Many of the finest ODI batsmen in the history of the game have opened the batting for their respective teams. While some of their opening partners had a reputation of their own, a few became more popular because of being associated with them. Players belonging to the latter variety did not achieve too much individual success in their ODI careers but flourished when batting alongside their prolific partners.
Let’s take a look at 5 batsmen who gained popularity because of their opening partners in ODI cricket:
5. Andrew Hudson (South Africa)
Opening Partner: Gary Kirsten
A right-handed opening batsman by trade, Andrew Hudson made his international debut more than 2 years before his far more prolific opening partner, Gary Kirsten. Hudson scored more than 2500 ODI runs at an average of nearly 30 and had a highest ODI score of 161 against Netherlands in the 1996 World Cup. He and Kirsten began opening the South African ODI innings in December 1993 and registered a blob in their first outing together.
Despite having an inauspicious start, the duo got their act together and played a crucial role in their team’s success through the mid-1990s. In 39 innings as an opening pair, the Kirsten-Hudson combine scored over 1500 runs, which included 4 century partnerships and 8 stands in excess of 50. However, more often than not, it was the future Indian coach who got the big runs for South Africa after his partner’s dismissal.