The occurrence of consecutive century stands by openers for a team is not very frequent, though there have been quite a few in recent past. Bharath Seervi digs out some relevant numbers.
Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock put on century stands against India for the opening wicket in two consecutive ODIs in the three match ODI series in 2013 before going on to extend the record. In the Champions Trophy 2013 in England, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma shared century partnerships in the very first two ODIs they opened together. They did an encore in the seven-ODI series against Australia in India. Kieron Powell partnered with Johnson Charles and Ramnaresh Sarwan in two consecutive ODIs for century partnerships for West Indies. And so on.
Only once in the history of ODIs any team got century opening partnership in four consecutive ODIs —Pakistan against New Zealand at home in 2003. Yasir Hameed and Imran Farhat were the opening pair in all matches. They partnered in stands of 115, 142, 134 and 197 runs respectively in the four consecutive ODI matches.
Four consecutive century opening partnerships
Yasir Hameed and Imran Farhat
115 vs New Zealand: Lahore 2003
142 vs New Zealand: Faisalabad 2003
134 vs New Zealand: Rawalpindi 2003
197 vs New Zealand: Rawalpindi 2003
There have been only one other occasion of a team getting century opening partnerships in three consecutive ODIs: Geoff Boycott and Peter Willey added 135 runs for the first wicket against West Indies at Lord’s; Boycott then partnered with Graham Gooch for century stands of 108 and 154 runs against Australia in the same year in the next two ODIs.
Three consecutive century opening partnerships
Geoff Boycott and Peter Willey
135 vs West Indies: Lord’s, 1980
Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch
108 vs Australia: The Oval, 1980
154 vs Australia: Edgbaston, 1980
Two consecutive century partnerships have been seen 32 times in the history of ODIs. It is listed team-wise below.
Two consecutive century opening partnerships
For AUSTRALIA (3)
Tom Moody added century partnerships in two consecutive ODIs partnering with David Boon and Mark Taylor in 1992, which was the first occasion of two Australian opening pairs putting up hundred partnerships in consecutive matches. Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh did so in 2000 and then Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin did similar in 2009. Though having strong opening pairs for many a years, the Australian team got only three instances of consecutive century opening partnerships from its openers.
David Boon and Tom Moody
107 vs West Indies: MCG, 1992
Mark Taylor and Tom Moody
109 vs Sri Lanka: Premadasa, 1992
Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh
114 vs New Zealand: Dunedin, 2000
189 vs New Zealand: Christchurch, 2000
Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin
129 vs South Africa: Port Elizabeth, 2009
127 vs South Africa: New Wanderers, 2009
For ENGLAND (2)
Only twice have England seen their opening pairs add hundreds in consecutive ODI innings. Two different pairs — Geoff Cook and Gooch and Chris Tavare & Barry Wood — did it in 1982 before Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick got there in 2003 in the tri-series in Australia.
Geoff Cook and Graham Gooch
109 vs Sri Lanka: SSC, 1982
Chris Tavare and Barry Wood
133 vs India: Headingley, 1982
Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick
165 vs Australia: Bellerive Oval, 2003
115 vs Sri Lanka: SCG, 2003
For INDIA (9)
The Indian team has got the highest number of instances of consecutive century stands by its openers. Raman Lamba and Krishnamachari Srikkanth did it in 1989 before Ajay Jadeja and Sachin Tendulkar in 1994. Sourav Ganguly and Tendulkar did so twice in their career — once in 2001 in South Africa and later in 2007 in England. But Tendulkar-Virender Sehwag pair did it the highest number of times. They did it thrice — once each in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were the latest addition to the list to make it nine occasions for India.
Rama Lamba and Kris Srikkanth
115 vs Australia: Chinnaswamy, 1989
120 vs Pakistan: Eden Gardens, 1989
Ajay Jadeja and Sachin Tendulkar
100 vs New Zealand: Kotla, 1994
108 vs West Indies: Eden Gardens, 1994
Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar
101 vs South Africa: East London, 2001
258 vs Kenya: Paarl, 2001
Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar
107 vs England: Chepauk, 2002
134 vs England: Green Park, 2002
Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar
103 vs Australia: Chinnaswamy, 2003
182 vs New Zealand: Hyderabad, 2003
Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar
103 vs Australia: MCG, 2004
130 vs Zimbabwe: Bellerive Oval, 2004
Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar
116 vs England: Headingley, 2007
150 vs England: The Oval, 2007
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma
127 vs South Africa: Cardiff, 2013
101 vs West Indies: The Oval, 2013
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma
178 vs Australia: Nagpur, 2013
112 vs Australia: Chinnaswamy, 2013
For NEW ZEALAND (5)
The Kiwi opening pair Bruce Edgar and Glenn Turner were opening for the first time in 1983 when they put on century stands in both of their first two ODIs as openers. Nathan Astle did the same with Llorne Howell in 1998 and then with Stephen Fleming in 2004. Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder emulated them in 2009 and Martin Guptill and Rob Nicol pair in 2012.
Bruce Edgar and Glenn Turner
101 vs England: Eden Park, 1983
152 vs England: Christchurch, 1983
Nathan Astle and Llorne Howell
125 vs Zimbabwe: Christchurch, 1998
147 vs Zimbabwe: Napier, 1998
Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming
122 vs England: Bristol, 2004
120 vs West Indies: Lord’s, 2004
Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder
166 vs India: Christchurch, 2009
102 vs India: Hamilton, 2009
Martin Guptill and Rob Nicol
131 vs Zimbabwe: Whangarei, 2012
153 vs Zimbabwe: Napier, 2012
For PAKISTAN (2)
In 1993, Rameez Raja and Saeed Anwar put on century stands as openers at Sharjah in consecutive ODIs. The only other time for Pakistan was in 2002 when Saleem Elahi and Taufeeq Umar were the pair. They added 159 and 154, the first pair to put on 150-run stands in consecutive ODI innings.
Rameez Raja and Saeed Anwar
132 vs Sri Lanka: Sharjah, 1993
204 vs Sri Lanka: Sharjah, 1993
Saleem Elahi and Taufeeq Umar
159 vs Zimbabwe: Bulawayo, 2002
154 vs Zimbabwe: Harare, 2002
For SOUTH AFRICA (5)
South Africa entered into International Cricket in 1992. In the same year Andrew Hudson paired with Kepler Wessels and Peter Kirsten to add century stands in consecutive ODIs in Australia. AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith did it twice — once in 2006 and the other in the 2007 ICC World Cup. Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock became the second pair to put on 150-run opening partnership in consecutive ODI innings in 2013. They did it again a few months later, against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
The legendary pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes put up consecutive century stands only once in their illustrious careers in 1987 in New Zealand. The only other occasion was the recent one by Kieron Powell with Johnson Charles and Ramnaresh Sarwan in 2013.
Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes
134 vs New Zealand: Eden Park, 1987
192*vs New Zealand: Christchurch, 1987
Kieron Powell and Johnson Charles
168 vs Zimbabwe: St George’s, 2013
Kieron Powell and Ramnaresh Sarwan
111 vs Zimbabwe: St George’s, 2013
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)
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