Highest 1st Wicket Partnership in Test
The 1st wicket partnership in test is vital in setting the momentum, providing stability, and influencing the overall strategy of the team.
A strong start can demoralize the opposition and create a platform for middle-order batsmen.
Record-breaking opening stands, such as the highest 1st wicket partnership in test, showcase the dominance and resilience of openers in challenging conditions.
From facing top-quality bowlers to dealing with unpredictable pitch conditions and the pressures of record-breaking expectations, opening batsmen must navigate a host of difficulties.
Yet, it is these very challenges that make breaking records in Test cricket all the more special and celebrated when accomplished.
Highest 1st Wicket Partnership in Test | Top 10
Here is a detailed overview of the top 10 highest opening partnerships in test cricket.
10. Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya – 335 runs (Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, Kandy, 28-June-2000)
Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya made a remarkable partnership of 335 runs against Pakistan in Kandy on June 28, 2000.Â
This partnership was a blend of Jayasuriya’s aggressive batting and Atapattu’s classical style.
The duo’s resilience against a formidable Pakistan bowling attack marked a significant moment in Sri Lanka’s cricketing journey, setting the stage for future successes. due to rain, the Test match in Kandy ended in a draw.
9. Kraigg Brathwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul – 336 runs (West Indies vs Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, 04-Feb-2023)
In a more recent entry to the list, West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul formed a partnership of 336 runs against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on February 4, 2023.
The Test match ended in a draw. West Indies, with Brathwaite and Chanderpaul’s monumental partnership, posted a total of 447/6 declared and 203/5d.
 Zimbabwe responded with 379/9d and 134/6, and the match concluded without a clear result.
8. Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs – 338 runs (South Africa vs England, Birmingham, 24-July-2003)
Image credit: Getty Images
South Africa’s Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs made another appearance in the record books on July 24, 2003, in Birmingham, scoring 338 runs against England.
This partnership showcased the consistency and adaptability of the South African openers.
Smith’s captaincy prowess and Gibbs’ aggressive style combined to form a partnership that not only provided a solid foundation in that Test match but also demonstrated the duo’s ability to perform against quality opposition on foreign soil.
The Test match in Birmingham ended in a draw. South Africa, thanks to another significant partnership between Smith and Gibbs, declared at 594/5.
In response, England managed 557/8, and the match concluded without a decisive outcome.
7. Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook – 359 runs (England vs South Africa, Johannesburg, 27-Dec-1948)
Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook, two stalwarts of English cricket, showcased their class on December 27, 1948, in Johannesburg against South Africa.
Accumulating 359 runs, this partnership was a testament to the resilience and skill of English batsmen in challenging conditions.
Hutton’s meticulous technique and Washbrook’s elegant strokeplay mesmerized cricket enthusiasts, establishing a benchmark for opening partnerships in Test cricket during that era.
The Test match resulted in a draw. England, batting first, declared at 608, led by the monumental partnership between Hutton and Washbrook.Â
South Africa replied with 450/7, and the match concluded without a winner.
6. Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs – 368 runs (South Africa vs Pakistan, Cape Town, 02-Jan-2003)
South African cricket fans had reason to celebrate on January 2, 2003, as Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs combined to produce a formidable partnership of 368 runs against Pakistan in Cape Town.
The duo’s aggressive approach put immense pressure on the opposition bowlers. Smith’s leadership qualities and Gibbs’ flair made this partnership a spectacle.
Beyond the individual milestones, this partnership set the tone for South Africa’s dominance in the Test match.
South Africa, due to the record-breaking partnership between Smith and Gibbs, declared at 620/7 and won the match by an innings and 142 runs.
Pakistan responded with 483/9. Despite both teams scoring heavily, time constraints prevented a conclusive result.
5. Bill Lawry, Bob Simpson – 382 runs (Australia vs West Indies, Bridgetown, 05-May-1965)
Australia’s opening pair, Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson, created history on May 5, 1965, in Bridgetown, accumulating 382 runs against the West Indies.
The partnership exemplified the disciplined and methodical approach that Australian batsmen were renowned for.
Lawry’s resilience and Simpson’s technical prowess were on full display, providing a blueprint for opening partnerships in Test cricket.
This innings not only contributed significantly to the match but also left an enduring legacy in Australian cricket. The Test match resulted in a draw.
4. Glenn Turner, Terry Jarvis – 387 runs (New Zealand vs West Indies, Georgetown, 06-Apr-1972)
New Zealand’s Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis crafted a memorable partnership of 387 runs against the West Indies in Georgetown on April 6, 1972.
This partnership was a display of classical batting technique and temperament. Turner, known for his elegance, and Jarvis, with his solid defense, complemented each other perfectly.
Their partnership not only defied the West Indies’ formidable bowling attack but also showcased the ability of New Zealand batsmen to excel on the international stage. The Test match in Georgetown ended in a draw.
3. Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid – 410 runs (India vs Pakistan, Lahore, 13-Jan-2006)
The cricketing world witnessed fireworks in Lahore on January 13, 2006, as Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid combined forces to create a partnership for the ages.
Scoring 410 runs against Pakistan, Sehwag’s flamboyance and Dravid’s solidity formed a perfect blend.
Sehwag’s aggressive strokeplay and Dravid’s steadfast defense complemented each other, showcasing the diversity within India’s batting lineup.
This partnership not only reflected the team’s resilience but also demonstrated the adaptability of the Indian batsmen across different playing conditions.
The Test match in Lahore concluded in a draw. Pakistan posted a mammoth first-innings total of 679/7 declared, and in reply, India scored 410/1 with Sehwag and Dravid leading the charge. The teams didn’t have sufficient time to force a result in the match.
2. Vinoo Mankad, Pankaj Roy – 413 runs (India vs New Zealand, Chennai, 06-Jan-1956)
In a Test match against New Zealand in Chennai on January 6, 1956, India’s Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy produced a batting masterclass, forming a partnership worth 413 runs.
The innings was a testament to the classical style of batting, with both players displaying impeccable technique and concentration.
Mankad and Roy’s partnership not only laid the foundation for India’s success in that particular match but also became a symbol of batting excellence, setting a high standard for generations to come.
India, batting first, amassed 537/3 declared, with Mankad and Roy’s partnership being the cornerstone.Â
In reply, New Zealand scored 209 and 219 and India won the match by an innings and 109 runs.
1. Neil McKenzie, Graeme Smith – 415 runs (South Africa vs Bangladesh, Chattogram, 29-Feb-2008)
On February 29, 2008, in Chattogram, South Africa’s opening pair, Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith, etched their names into cricketing history by setting the record for the highest 1st wicket partnership in Test cricket.
Against Bangladesh, the duo batted with remarkable tenacity, accumulating a staggering 415 runs.
Their partnership not only showcased individual brilliance but also highlighted the synergy and understanding between the two batsmen.
Both McKenzie and Smith exhibited a mix of aggression and resilience, leaving an indelible mark on the cricketing landscape.
South Africa, propelled by the historic partnership between Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith, posted a colossal first-innings total of 583/7 declared.Â
Bangladesh responded with 259 in their first innings and 119 runs in the second innings. South Africa won the match easily by an innings and 205 runs.
List of the Highest 1st Wicket Partnerships In Test Cricket History
Sr. No. | Partners | Runs | Team | Opposition | Ground | Match Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Neil McKenzie, Graeme Smith | 415 | South Africa | v Bangladesh | Chattogram | 29-Feb-08 |
2 | Vinoo Mankad, Pankaj Roy | 413 | India | v New Zealand | Chennai | 6-Jan-56 |
3 | Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid | 410 | India | v Pakistan | Lahore | 13-Jan-06 |
4 | Glenn Turner, Terry Jarvis | 387 | New Zealand | v West Indies | Georgetown | 6-Apr-72 |
5 | Bill Lawry, Bob Simpson | 382 | Australia | v West Indies | Bridgetown | 5-May-65 |
6 | Graeme Smith, Herschelle | 368 | South Africa | v Pakistan | Cape Town | 2-Jan-03 |
7 | Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook | 359 | England | v South Africa | Johannesburg | 27-Dec-48 |
8 | Graeme Smith, Herschelle | 338 | South Africa | v England | Birmingham | 24-Jul-03 |
9 | Kraigg Brathwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul | 336 | West Indies | v Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 4-Feb-23 |
10 | Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya | 335 | Sri Lanka | v Pakistan | Kandy | 28-Jun-00 |
11 | GR Marsh, MA Taylor | 329 | Australia | v England | Nottingham | 10-Aug-89 |
12 | JB Hobbs, W Rhodes | 323 | England | v Australia | Melbourne | 9-Feb-12 |
13 | Mayank Agarwal, Rohi Sharma | 317 | India | v South Africa | Visakhapatnam | 2-Oct-19 |
14 | Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes | 312 | Bangladesh | v Pakistan | Khulna | 28-Apr-15 |
15 | Graeme Smith, Herschelle | 301 | South Africa | v West Indies | Centurion | 16-Jan-04 |
16 | CG Greenidge, DL Haynes | 298 | West Indies | v England | St John's | 12-Apr-90 |
17 | Aamer Sohail, Ijaz Ahmed | 298 | Pakistan | v West Indies | Karachi | 6-Dec-97 |
18 | CG Greenidge, DL Haynes | 296 | West Indies | v India | St John's | 28-Apr-83 |
19 | G Pullar, MC Cowdrey | 290 | England | v South Africa | The Oval | 18-Aug-60 |
20 | Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan | 289 | India | v Australia | Mohali | 14-Mar-13 |
21 | JB Hobbs, H Sutcliffe | 283 | England | v Australia | Melbourne | 1-Jan-25 |
22 | Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan | 283 | India | v Bangladesh | Fatullah | 10-Jun-15 |
23 | MS Atapattu, ST Jayasuriya | 281 | Sri Lanka | v Zimbabwe | Harare | 6-May-04 |
24 | Shan Masood, Abid Ali | 278 | Pakistan | v Sri Lanka | Karachi | 19-Dec-19 |
25 | CS Dempster, JE Mills | 276 | New Zealand | v England | Wellington | 24-Jan-30 |
26 | AFG Griffith, SL Campbell | 276 | West Indies | v New Zealand | Hamilton | 16-Dec-99 |
27 | ME Trescothick, AJ Strauss | 273 | England | v South Africa | Durban | 26-Dec-04 |
28 | MJ Slater, GS Blewett | 269 | Australia | v Pakistan | Brisbane | 5-Nov-99 |
29 | JB Hobbs, H Sutcliffe | 268 | England | v South Africa | Lord's | 28-Jun-24 |
30 | B Mitchell, IJ Siedle | 260 | South Africa | v England | Cape Town | 1-Jan-31 |
31 | MA Taylor, MJ Slater | 260 | Australia | v England | Lord's | 17-Jun-93 |
32 | HH Gibbs, G Kirsten | 256 | South Africa | v Zimbabwe | Harare | 7-Sep-01 |
33 | JL Langer, ML Hayden | 255 | Australia | v Sri Lanka | Cairns | 9-Jul-04 |
34 | CH Gayle, KOA Powell | 254 | West Indies | v New Zealand | North Sound | 25-Jul-12 |
35 | JA Raval, TWM Latham | 254 | New Zealand | v Bangladesh | Hamilton | 28-Feb-19 |
36 | Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq | 252* | Pakistan | v Australia | Rawalpindi | 4-Mar-22 |
37 | CG Greenidge, DL Haynes | 250* | West Indies | v Australia | Georgetown | 2-Mar-84 |
38 | Khalid Ibadulla, Abdul Kadir | 249 | Pakistan | v Australia | Karachi | 24-Oct-64 |
39 | AB de Villiers, GC Smith | 245 | South Africa | v West Indies | St John's | 29-Apr-05 |
40 | RB Simpson, WM Lawry | 244 | Australia | v England | Adelaide | 28-Jan-66 |
41 | D Elgar, AK Markram | 243 | South Africa | v Bangladesh | Bloemfontein | 6-Oct-17 |
42 | JL Langer, ML Hayden | 242 | Australia | v West Indies | St John's | 9-May-03 |
43 | AF Rae, JB Stollmeyer | 239 | West Indies | v India | Chennai | 27-Jan-49 |
44 | JA Burns, DA Warner | 237 | Australia | v New Zealand | Brisbane | 5-Nov-15 |
45 | AC Hudson, G Kirsten | 236 | South Africa | v India | Eden Gardens | 27-Nov-96 |
46 | G Boycott, RW Barber | 234 | England | v Australia | Sydney | 7-Jan-66 |
47 | WA Brown, JHW Fingleton | 233 | Australia | v South Africa | Cape Town | 1-Jan-36 |
48 | G Gambhir, V Sehwag | 233 | India | v Sri Lanka | Kanpur | 24-Nov-09 |
49 | Z Crawley, BM Duckett | 233 | England | v Pakistan | Rawalpindi | 1-Dec-22 |
50 | MH Richardson, L Vincent | 231 | New Zealand | v India | Mohali | 16-Oct-03 |
51 | ML Hayden, MEK Hussey | 231 | Australia | v West Indies | Hobart | 17-Nov-05 |
52 | AN Cook, NRD Compton | 231 | England | v New Zealand | Dunedin | 6-Mar-13 |
53 | AJ Strauss, AN Cook | 229 | England | v West Indies | Bridgetown | 26-Feb-09 |
54 | YBK Jaiswal, RG Sharma | 229 | India | v West Indies | Roseau | 12-Jul-23 |
55 | MJ Slater, MA Taylor | 228 | Australia | v Sri Lanka | Perth | 8-Dec-95 |
56 | KNM Fernando, FDM Karunaratne | 228 | Sri Lanka | v Ireland | Galle | 24-Apr-23 |
57 | CG Greenidge, DL Haynes | 225 | West Indies | v New Zealand | Christchurch | 22-Feb-80 |
58 | GA Gooch, MA Atherton | 225 | England | v India | Manchester | 9-Aug-90 |
59 | Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq | 225 | Pakistan | v England | Rawalpindi | 1-Dec-22 |
60 | JL Langer, ML Hayden | 224 | Australia | v New Zealand | Brisbane | 8-Nov-01 |
61 | Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes | 224 | Bangladesh | v Zimbabwe | Chattogram | 12-Nov-14 |
62 | G Fowler, CJ Tavare | 223 | England | v New Zealand | The Oval | 14-Jul-83 |
63 | BC Broad, CWJ Athey | 223 | England | v Australia | Perth | 28-Nov-86 |
64 | JL Langer, ML Hayden | 223 | Australia | v New Zealand | Hobart | 22-Nov-01 |
65 | PA Jaques, SM Katich | 223 | Australia | v West Indies | Bridgetown | 12-Jun-08 |
66 | DA Warner, JA Burns | 222 | Australia | v Pakistan | Brisbane | 21-Nov-19 |
67 | JB Hobbs, W Rhodes | 221 | England | v South Africa | Cape Town | 11-Mar-10 |
68 | M Vijay, V Sehwag | 221 | India | v Sri Lanka | Brabourne | 2-Dec-09 |
69 | CJ Barnett, L Hutton | 219 | England | v Australia | Nottingham | 10-Jun-38 |
70 | WM Lawry, IR Redpath | 219 | Australia | v South Africa | Melbourne | 1-Jan-64 |
71 | Mohammad Wasim, Imran Nazir | 219 | Pakistan | v West Indies | Bridgetown | 18-May-00 |
72 | JL Langer, ML Hayden | 219 | Australia | v South Africa | Sydney | 2-Jan-02 |
73 | V Sehwag, G Gambhir | 218 | India | v South Africa | Kanpur | 20-Nov-04 |
74 | DC Boon, GR Marsh | 217 | Australia | v India | Sydney | 2-Jan-86 |
75 | GC Smith, AB de Villiers | 217 | South Africa | v Zimbabwe | Cape Town | 4-Mar-05 |
76 | Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali | 215 | Pakistan | v West Indies | Dubai (DSC) | 13-Oct-16 |
77 | AR Morris, J Moroney | 214 | Australia | v South Africa | Johannesburg | 10-Feb-50 |
78 | CM Spearman, RG Twose | 214 | New Zealand | v Zimbabwe | Auckland | 20-Jan-96 |
79 | D Ganga, CH Gayle | 214 | West Indies | v Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 19-Jul-01 |
80 | EJM Cowan, DA Warner | 214 | Australia | v India | Perth | 13-Jan-12 |
81 | SM Gavaskar, CPS Chauhan | 213 | India | v England | The Oval | 30-Aug-79 |
82 | W Jaffer, V Sehwag | 213 | India | v South Africa | Chennai | 26-Mar-08 |
83 | RT Simpson, C Washbrook | 212 | England | v West Indies | Nottingham | 20-Jul-50 |
84 | G Boycott, DL Amiss | 209 | England | v West Indies | Port of Spain | 2-Feb-74 |
85 | FDM Karunaratne, HDRL Thirimanne | 209 | Sri Lanka | v Bangladesh | Pallekele | 29-Apr-21 |
86 | MA Taylor, MJ Slater | 208 | Australia | v England | Sydney | 1-Jan-95 |
87 | NT Paranavitana, TM Dilshan | 207 | Sri Lanka | v England | Lord's | 3-Jun-11 |
88 | RC Fredericks, LG Rowe | 206 | West Indies | v England | Kingston | 16-Feb-74 |
89 | Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez | 205 | Pakistan | v Australia | Dubai (DSC) | 7-Oct-18 |
90 | GA Gooch, MA Atherton | 204 | England | v India | Lord's | 26-Jul-90 |
91 | GC Smith, ND McKenzie | 204 | South Africa | v England | Lord's | 10-Jul-08 |
92 | VM Merchant, S Mushtaq Ali | 203 | India | v England | Manchester | 25-Jul-36 |
93 | GA Gooch, MA Atherton | 203 | England | v Australia | Adelaide | 25-Jan-91 |
94 | JL Langer, ML Hayden | 202 | Australia | v South Africa | Melbourne | 26-Dec-01 |
95 | WM Lawry, RB Simpson | 201 | Australia | v England | Manchester | 23-Jul-64 |
96 | SB Bangar, V Sehwag | 201 | India | v West Indies | Wankhede | 9-Oct-02 |
97 | SM Gavaskar, K Srikkanth | 200 | India | v Pakistan | Chennai | 3-Feb-87 |
98 | CJL Rogers, DA Warner | 200 | Australia | v India | Sydney | 6-Jan-15 |
Data Source: ESPN Cricinfo