Partnership (cricket)

Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar support each other mid-innings.

In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in partnership, although only one is on strike at any time. The partnership between two batsmen will come to an end when one of them is dismissed or retires, or the innings comes to a close (usually due to victory being achieved, a declaration, a time or over limit being reached, or the match being abandoned in mid-innings for inclement weather or, exceptionally, dangerous playing conditions). Various statistics may be used to describe a partnership, most notably the number of runs scored during it (either by the batsmen or as extras), the duration of the partnership both in time (usually quoted in minutes) and number of deliveries (balls) faced. Partnerships are often described as being for a particular wicket (for example, a "third wicket partnership", also called a "third wicket stand"—in this context, the "opening partnership" between the two opening batsmen is the "first wicket partnership"). This has the anomalous result that a partnership may be between more than two batsmen, if one of the original batsmen retires hurt but not out, since the particular numbered wicket will not have fallen yet.

Batting in partnership

Batting in partnership is an important skill. When two higher-order batsmen (usually these are the side's best batsmen) are together, they are largely free to play to their own styles (which may be quite different: Marcus Trescothick, an aggressive strokeplayer and Mike Atherton, a defensive stonewaller, enjoyed many successful opening partnerships for England) although "rotating the strike" (each allowing the other play to face the bowler regularly) is encouraged, and communication when calling runs is an important part of any partnership. Opening partnerships are entrusted with seeing off the new ball, later partnerships are largely charged with consolidation, often facing an aging ball, spin bowling and eventually the second new ball.

The concept of batting in partnership becomes even more vital once only one recognised quality batsman remains. His job is then to shepherd the tail-end batsmen, while attempting to eke out as many runs as possible, or simply to survive as long as possible when merely attempting to save the game. This usually involves attempting to minimise risk, by exposing the lesser batsmen to as little bowling as possible. To do this, boundaries and twos are preferred while singles are avoided in the early parts of an over (although this allows the fielding captain to set his field further back into a more defensive position, often tempting the batsman with an easy single) but because the bowling end changes at the end of an over, it is necessary to score a single (or much more rarely, three runs) to counteract this. While a single on the sixth and final ball of the over would be ideal, the field is usually set closer to make this harder and the batsman may prefer to rotate the strike on the fifth or even fourth ball, hoping that the tail-ender can survive for a delivery or two, rather than risking either having to take a dangerous run on the last ball (with the attendant risk of a run out) or not being able to get a single at all, leaving the tail-ender stranded on strike for the start of the next over (hence allowing up to six balls to be bowled at him).

Style of play

Unsurprisingly, lower order partnerships are usually much smaller than those for the early wickets, but are often the most tactically intense. A lot of spectator enjoyment derives either from the frequent combination of a last recognised batsman adopting extremely aggressive play (in an effort to score as many runs as possible before he runs out of batting partners - one reason why aggressive batsmen like Andrew Flintoff and Adam Gilchrist are often deliberately placed relatively low in the batting order) and the constant risk of a wicket, the alternative situation where no recognised batsmen remains and the tail-enders (relieved of their responsibility to bat carefully for anybody else) often unleash their rarely seen arsenal of attacking shots, or alternatively the extremely tense situation which sometimes emerges towards the end of a match when a batting side, facing defeat, can only salvage a draw and save the match by batting to the end of the final day, which becomes difficult once the worst batsmen are in, and their survival is always nerve-wracking — English fans fondly remember the last wicket stand of Angus Fraser and Robert Croft, batting out the last few overs of the drawn Third Test against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1998, when the dismissal of either of them would have resulted in a loss. This contrasts with the spirit of earlier wicket partnerships, where the batsmen usually dominate and the bowlers have to work especially hard to take their wickets.

Effect on the opposition

Large partnerships do more than simply add runs to the scoreboard, they may also serve to exhaust and demoralise the fielding team. Both of these were major factors at the famous Test match at Eden Gardens in 2001, when India's V. V. S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid put on a fifth wicket stand of 376 runs, staying at the crease for the entire fourth day's play without being dismissed. Despite having forced their opponents to follow on, Steve Waugh's highly regarded Australians were left emotionally and physically drained, slumping to a shock heavy (171 run) defeat. Even if nowhere near as damaging numerically, larger-than-expected last wicket stands can still be very demoralising, especially because as soon as the Number 11 batsman walks out of the pavilion, many of the fielders expect to be batting within minutes and start their mental preparations. If the last wicket partnership lasts much longer than they expect, it has an adverse effect on their preparation and composure, as well as their energy level deteriorating from extra time on the field. It is also damaging to the confidence of the bowlers if they are unable to dismiss a team's worst batsman relatively easily. A good example of this came in the First Test between Australia and New Zealand at Brisbane Cricket Ground in 2004. The Kiwis performed well for the first two-day, and while the Australians did recover strongly on the third, the New Zealanders were still well in the hunt when Glenn McGrath, the Australian fast bowler and notoriously poor batsman came to the crease to accompany fellow tail-ender Jason Gillespie with nine wickets down. Incredibly, the pair put on 114 runs, both achieving half centuries (McGrath's first in a long Test career in which he has never averaged more than 8 with the bat). The humiliated New Zealanders lost energy and focus, and when they finally removed McGrath and went in to bat, their batting order was devastated, collapsing to 76 all out, giving Australia an innings victory with a day to spare. During second test of the 2005 Ashes, Australia's tailenders Shane Warne, Michael Kasprowicz and Brett Lee infamously held out during their second innings after the top order had been decimated by England's bowlers and nearly won a tightly-contested match, losing by a mere 2 runs - the narrowest margin in Ashes history - due to the contentious dismissal of Kasprowicz.

Test record partnerships by wicket

Correct as of 11 December 2015 :

Wicket	Runs	Batting partners	Batting team	Fielding team	Venue	Season
1st	415	Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie	South Africa	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2008
2nd	576	Roshan Mahanama and Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	India	Colombo	1997
3rd	624	Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Colombo	2006
4th	449	Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh	Australia	West Indies	Bellerive Oval	2015/16
5th	405	Donald Bradman and Sid Barnes	Australia	England	Sydney	1946/47
6th	399	Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow	England	South Africa	Cape Town	2016
7th	347	Clairmonte Depeiaza and Denis Atkinson	West Indies	Australia	Bridgetown	1954/55
8th	332	Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad	England	Pakistan	Lord's	2010
9th	195	Pat Symcox and Mark Boucher	South Africa	Pakistan	Johannesburg	1997/98
10th	198	Joe Root and James Anderson	England	India	Nottingham	2014

Top 10 Test partnerships (for any wicket)

Correct as of 11 December 2015:

Runs	Wicket	Batting partners	Batting team	Fielding team	Venue	Season
624	3rd	Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Colombo	2006
576	2nd	Roshan Mahanama and Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	India	Colombo	1997
467	3rd	Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe	New Zealand	Sri Lanka	Wellington	1990/91
451	2nd	Donald Bradman and W H Ponsford	Australia	England	Sydney	1934
451	3rd	Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad	Pakistan	India	Hyderabad, Pakistan	1982/83
449	4th	Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh	Australia	West Indies	Bellerive Oval	2015/16
446	2nd	Conrad Hunte and Gary Sobers	West Indies	Pakistan	The Oval	1957/58
438	2nd	Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	2004
437	4th	Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera	Sri Lanka	Pakistan	Karachi	2008/09
429*	3rd	Jacques Rudolph and Boeta Dippenaar	South Africa	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2003

First Class record partnerships by wicket

Correct as of 6 December 2009:

Wicket	Runs	Batting partners	Batting team	Fielding team	Venue	Season
1st	561	Waheed Mirza and Mansoor Akhtar	Karachi Whites	Quetta	Karachi	1976/77
2nd	580	Rafatullah Mohmand and Aamer Sajjad	WAPDA	SSGC	Sheikhupura	2009/10
3rd	624	Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Colombo	2006
4th	577	Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammad	Baroda	Holkar	Baroda	1946/47
5th	520*	Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravi Jadeja	Saurashtra	Orissa	Rajkot	2008/09
6th	487*	George Headley and Clarence Passailaigue	Jamaica	Lord Tennyson's XI	Kingston	1931/32
7th	460	Bhupinder Singh and Pankaj Dharmani	Punjab	Delhi	Delhi	1994/95
8th	433	Arthur Sims and Victor Trumper	Australia	Canterbury	Christchurch	1913/14
9th	283	John Chapman and Arnold Warren	Derbyshire	Warwickshire	Blackwell	1910
10th	307	Alan Kippax and Hal Hooker	New South Wales	Victoria	MCG	1928/29

* = unbroken partnership

One-Day Internationals Highest Partnerships by wicket

Correct as of 17 May 2007:

Wicket	Runs	Batting partners	Batting team	Fielding team	Venue	Date
1st	286	Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	England	Leeds	1 July 2006
2nd	372	Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels	West Indies	Zimbabwe	Canberra	24 February 2015
3rd	258	Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin	West Indies	Bangladesh	Basseterre	25 August 2014
4th	275*	Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja	India	Zimbabwe	Cuttack	9 April 1998
5th	256*	David Miller and JP Duminy	South Africa	Zimbabwe	Hamilton	15 February 2015
6th	267*	Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi	New Zealand	Sri Lanka	Dunedin	23 January 2015
7th	177	Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid	England	New Zealand	Birmingham	9 June 2015
8th	138*	Justin Kemp and Andrew Hall	South Africa	India	Cape Town	26 November 2006
9th	132	Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga	Sri Lanka	Australia	MCG, Melbourne	3 November 2010
10th	106*	Viv Richards and Michael Holding	West Indies	England	Manchester	31 May 1984

* = unbroken partnership

One-Day Internationals Highest Partnerships by runs

Correct as of 17 May 2007:

Wicket	Runs	Batting partners	Batting team	Fielding team	Venue	Date
1st	372	Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels	West Indies	Zimbabwe	Canberra	24 February 2015
2nd	331	Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid	India	New Zealand	Hyderabad	8 November 1999
3rd	318	Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid	India	Sri Lanka	Taunton	26 May 1999
4th	286	Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	England	Leeds	1 July 2006
5th	282	Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	Pallekele	10 March 2011
6th	275*	Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja	India	Zimbabwe	Cuttack	9 April 1998
7th	274	James Marshall and Brendon McCullum	New Zealand	Ireland	Aberdeen	1 July 2008
8th	267*	Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi	New Zealand	Sri Lanka	Dunedin	23 January 2015
9th	263	Aamer Sohail and Inzamam-ul-Haq	Pakistan	New Zealand	Sharjah	20 April 1994
10th	260	David Warner and Steven Smith	Australia	Afghanistan	Perth	4 March 2015

* = unbroken partnership

• Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly hold the world record for the maximum number of runs scored by the opening partnership. They have put together 6,362 runs in 129 matches that includes 20 century partnerships and 22 fifty run partnerships. The 20 century partnerships for opening pair is also a world record.

References

• A few marathon partnerships from The Hindu
• Partnerships from Howstat
• List of record partnerships in Tests from ESPN.com
• Tests - Partnership Records from cricinfo.com
• First Class partnership records from CricketArchive