5 Grounds with the lowest opening stands average in Test cricket
Test cricket is the toughest form of the game for opening batsmen, simply because of the fact that the bowlers can be far more attacking and there can be no limit to the number of fielders in catching positions. Most mistakes are punished and the batsmen are sent packing. Hence, survival is of paramount importance for the pair of opening batsmen at the start of an innings.
However, certain venues have proven to be the graveyard of opening batsmen and the first wickets almost always seem to fall before the opening pair are able to put up a substantial score. That being said, it would be interesting to see which particular grounds have been the hardest for opening batsmen in the history of Test cricket and here is a look at 5 grounds that have produced the lowest opening partnership averages.
#5 SuperSport Park, Centurion, South Africa
SuperSport Park, which is better known as Centurion Park has been a fixture in the South African cricket season since 1995 and has hosted 23 Test matches so far since 1995. When people think of difficult pitches in South Africa then the ground that comes to mind is perhaps the Kingsmead in Durban, however, it is Centurion which has proven to be a riddle for opening batsmen over the course of the last 23 years.
The average for the opening stand at the ground is 28.61 and more often than not, the fast bowlers enjoy bowling on the pitch that has a lot of assistance for them. The seam movement and bounce is usually the source of misery for most batsmen. The first wicket has fallen for 0 on 6 occasions and openers have put up a century stand only 4 times in 79 innings.