Partnership (cricket)


In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in partnership, although only one is a striker 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. Various statistics may be used to describe a partnership, most notably the number of runs scored during it, the duration of the partnership both in time and number of deliveries faced. Partnerships are often described as being for a particular wicket. 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 are together, they are largely free to play to their own styles although "rotating the strike" 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 but because the bowling end changes at the end of an over, it is necessary to score a single 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 or not being able to get a single at all, leaving the tail-ender stranded on strike for the start of the next over

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 and the constant risk of a wicket, the alternative situation where no recognised batsmen remains and the tail-enders 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 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. 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 2019:
WicketRunsBatting partnersBatting teamFielding teamVenueSeason
1st415Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzieSouth AfricaBangladeshChittagong2008
2nd576Roshan Mahanama and Sanath JayasuriyaSri LankaIndiaColombo1997
3rd624Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar SangakkaraSri LankaSouth AfricaColombo2006
4th449Adam Voges and Shaun MarshAustraliaWest IndiesHobart2015/16
5th405Donald Bradman and Sid BarnesAustraliaEnglandSydney1946/47
6th399Ben Stokes and Jonny BairstowEnglandSouth AfricaCape Town2016
7th347Clairmonte Depeiaza and Denis AtkinsonWest IndiesAustraliaBridgetown1954/55
8th332Jonathan Trott and Stuart BroadEnglandPakistanLord's2010
9th195MV Boucher and Pat SymcoxSouth AfricaPakistanJohannesburg1998
10th198Joe Root and James AndersonEnglandIndiaNottingham2014

Top 10 Test partnerships (for any wicket)

Correct as of 18 March 2017:
RunsWicketBatting partnersBatting teamFielding teamVenueSeason
6243rdMahela Jayawardene and Kumar SangakkaraSri LankaSouth AfricaColombo2006
5762ndRoshan Mahanama and Sanath JayasuriyaSri LankaIndiaColombo1997
4673rdAndrew Jones and Martin CroweNew ZealandSri LankaWellington1990/91
4512ndDonald Bradman and W H PonsfordAustraliaEnglandSydney1934
4513rdMudassar Nazar and Javed MiandadPakistanIndiaHyderabad, Pakistan1982/83
4494thAdam Voges and Shaun MarshAustraliaWest IndiesBellerive Oval2015/16
4462ndConrad Hunte and Gary SobersWest IndiesPakistanThe Oval1957/58
4382ndMarvan Atapattu and Kumar SangakkaraSri LankaZimbabweBulawayo2004
4374thMahela Jayawardene and Thilan SamaraweeraSri LankaPakistanKarachi2008/09
429*3rdJacques Rudolph and Boeta DippenaarSouth AfricaBangladeshChittagong2003

First-class record partnerships by wicket

Correct as of 14 October 2016:
WicketRunsBatting partnersBatting teamFielding teamVenueSeason
1st561Waheed Mirza and Mansoor AkhtarKarachi WhitesQuettaKarachi1976/77
2nd580Rafatullah Mohmand and Aamer SajjadWAPDASSGCSheikhupura2009/10
3rd624Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar SangakkaraSri LankaSouth AfricaColombo2006
4th577Vijay Hazare and Gul MohammadBarodaHolkarBaroda1946/47
5th520*Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravi JadejaSaurashtraOrissaRajkot2008/09
6th487*George Headley and Clarence PassailaigueJamaicaLord Tennyson's XIKingston1931/32
7th460Bhupinder Singh and Pankaj DharmaniPunjabDelhiDelhi1994/95
8th433Arthur Sims and Victor TrumperAustraliaCanterburyChristchurch1913/14
9th283John Chapman and Arnold WarrenDerbyshireWarwickshireBlackwell1910
10th307Alan Kippax and Hal HookerNew South WalesVictoriaMCG1928/29

* = unbroken partnership

First-class record partnerships (for any wicket)

Correct as of 14 October 2016:
RunsWicketBatting partnersBatting teamFielding teamVenueSeason
6243rdMahela Jayawardene and Kumar SangakkaraSri LankaSouth AfricaColombo2006
594*3rdSM Gugale and AR BawneMaharashtraDelhiMumbai2016/17
5802ndRafatullah Mohmand and Aamer SajjadWAPDASSGCSheikhupura2009/10
5774thVijay Hazare and Gul MohammadBarodaHolkarBaroda1946/47
5762ndRoshan Mahanama and Sanath JayasuriyaSri LankaIndiaColombo1997
574*4thFMM Worrel and CL WalcottBarbadosTrinidadPort-of-Spain1945/46
5611stWaheed Mirza and Mansoor AkhtarKarachi WhitesQuettaKarachi1976/77
5551stP Holmes and H SutcliffeYorkshireEssexLeyton1932
5541stJT Brown and J TunnicliffeYorkshireDerbyshireChesterfield1898
5393rdSD Jogiyani and R JadejaSaurashtraGujaratSurat2012/13

* means unbroken partnership.

One-Day Internationals Highest Partnerships by wicket

Correct as of 5 May 2019
WicketRunsBatting partnersBatting teamFielding teamVenueDate
1st365John Campbell and Shai HopeWest IndiesIrelandDublin5 May 2019
2nd372Chris Gayle and Marlon SamuelsWest IndiesZimbabweCanberra24 February 2015
3rd258Darren Bravo and Denesh RamdinWest IndiesBangladeshBasseterre25 August 2014
4th275*Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay JadejaIndiaZimbabweCuttack9 April 1998
5th256*David Miller and JP DuminySouth AfricaZimbabweHamilton15 February 2015
6th267*Grant Elliott and Luke RonchiNew ZealandSri LankaDunedin23 January 2015
7th177Jos Buttler and Adil RashidEnglandNew ZealandBirmingham9 June 2015
8th138*Justin Kemp and Andrew HallSouth AfricaIndiaCape Town26 November 2006
9th132Angelo Mathews and Lasith MalingaSri LankaAustraliaMelbourne3 November 2010

Correct as of 5 May 2019
RankRunsBatting partnersBatting teamFielding teamVenueDate
1st375Chris Gayle and Marlon SamuelsWest IndiesZimbabweCanberra24 February 2015
2nd365John Campbell and Shai HopeWest IndiesIrelandDublin5 May 2019
3rd331Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul DravidIndiaNew ZealandHyderabad8 November 1999
4th318Saurav Ganguly and Rahul DravidIndiaSri LankaTaunton26 May 1999
5th304Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar ZamanPakistanZimbabweBulawayo20 July 2018
6th292Tamim Iqbal and Liton DasBangladeshZimbabweSylhet6 March 2020
7th282*Quinton de Kock and Hashim AmlaSouth AfricaBangladeshKimberley15 October 2017
8th282Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne DilshanSri LankaZimbabwePallekele10 March 2011
9th275*Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay JadejaIndiaZimbabweCuttack9 April 1998
10th372James Marshall and Brendon McCullumNew ZealandIrelandAberdeen1 July 2008