Australia’s Best Ever Opening Batsman - Ranking the Top Test Openers of All Time (Updated 2025)
- Australia's cricket legacy is celebrated through its iconic Test openers.
- Top 5 include Hayden, Lawry, Simpson, Warner, and Langer.
- Honorable mentions highlight other past greats like Mark Taylor and Usman Khawaja.
David Warner walks out on the SCG in his final test as Australia's opening batsman. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
Australia’s Best Ever Opening Batsman - Ranking the Top Test Openers of All Time (Updated 2025)
Opening the batting in Test cricket is one of the toughest assignments in world sport. You face the new ball, the freshest bowlers, hostile crowds and conditions that can end an innings before it even begins. Australia has produced some of the finest openers in cricket history, from patient accumulators to powerful enforcers who could flip a Test within a session.
- Australia’s Best Ever Opening Batsman - Ranking the Top Test Openers of All Time (Updated 2025)
- Honourable Mentions (New for 2025)
- The Top 5 Australian Test Opening Batsmen of All Time
- #5 Justin Langer
- #4 David Warner
- #3 Bob Simpson
- #2 Bill Lawry
- #1 Matthew Hayden
Australia’s cricketing landscape continues to evolve, but the legacy of its great Test openers remains a constant talking point. As new talent rises and the game changes, it’s the perfect time to revisit where the nation’s greatest opening batsmen sit in the all-time rankings judged on output, dominance in their era, partnerships and long-term impact on Australian success.
Check out the Aussiebets.com.au Cricket Hub with the top Aussie Bookies offering odds on Cricket.
Honourable Mentions (New for 2025)
A few greats who sit just outside the top five but still left a major imprint on the Baggy Green:
- Mark Taylor - Taylor was a tactical mastermind and one of the great partnership-builders.
- Bob Simpson - A technician and long-time leader who carried Australia through difficult periods.
- Geoff Marsh - Rock-solid half of an ’80s pairing with Mark Taylor.
- Simon Katich - Underappreciated, consistent, adaptable.
- Usman Khawaja - A modern renaissance; superb in Asia late in his career.
- David Boon - More famous at No.3, but began his career as an opener.
The Top 5 Australian Test Opening Batsmen of All Time
#5 Justin Langer
If you looked at Justin Langer’s career from after the year 2000 until he retired in 2007 his numbers are almost unbeaten it such a short period. The thing with Langer was that he actually featured in the team for 7 years prior, debuting in 1993, however, he failed to make a real impression.
The turn of the century saw Langer score 6994 of his 7696 runs in what could be called the second half of his test career. His late blooming was spectacular and that is why he will always be remembered as one of the greats.
| Player | Career | M | Inn | R | HS | 100s | 50s | Ave | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J L Langer | 1993-2007 | 105 | 182 | 7696 | 250 | 23 | 30 | 45.27 | 54.23 |
#4 David Warner
What makes Warner creep into the top 5 ahead of some of the other great opening batsmen is his strike rate of 70.27.
As an opener patience is often the key, however, it was never really the case for Warner and his ability to entertain the crowd in the five-day game is incomparable, as the only Australian to have a better strike rate in the modern long form of the game was Adam Gilchrist, who often batted down the order.
| Player | Career | M | Inn | R | HS | 100s | 50s | Ave | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D A Warner* | 2011- | 111 | 203 | 8695 | 335* | 26 | 36 | 44.59 | 70.27 |
#3 Bob Simpson
Simpson will forever be known as a great, despite also being remembered as not being able to reach the triple-figure milestone as much as he probably should have.
Making his Debut in 1957, it took Simpson 30 tests before he got his first hundred and he only made it there 9 times in the 62 tests that he played. Despite falling often before his 100, Simpson was one of the most consistent batsmen that played the game, over the two decades he featured in the Aussie team, averaging 46.81 and scoring 4869 runs.
| Player | Career | M | Inn | R | HS | 100s | 50s | Ave | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R B Simpson | 1957-1978 | 62 | 111 | 4869 | 311 | 10 | 27 | 46.82 | - |
#2 Bill Lawry
Lawry was Simpson’s partner in crime and will always be remembered as one of Australia’s best-ever captains and also as one of the best-ever cricket commentators post-retirement.
Lawry was known to be the hardest batsman to get out in his time, often being called ‘the corpse’ as he was always at the crease. The left-hander scored 5234 runs in just 67 tests with 13 hundreds, scoring his first triple-figure score in his second test at Lord’s.
| Player | Career | M | Inn | R | HS | 100s | 50s | Ave | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W M Lawry | 1961-1971 | 67 | 123 | 5234 | 210 | 13 | 27 | 47.15 | - |
#1 Matthew Hayden
Millions of middle-aged men step out onto the backyard at Christmas time and see themselves as the great Mathew Hayden walking out at the MCG on Boxing Day.
Hayden had every Aussie glued to the TV every time he was at the crease as he piled on his 8625 runs in 103 Tests for Australia.
The miraculous part of Hayden’s career was the similarities with Justin Langer, his opening partner. Once both players met at the crease for the opening ball of the dead-rubber in the 2001 Ashes, their lives changed and they became the best opening partnership that Australia had ever seen, as the pair put their slow-starting test careers behind them and led the Aussies to many heroic match victories.
| Player | Career | M | Inn | R | HS | 100s | 50s | Ave | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M L Hayden | 1994-2009 | 103 | 184 | 8625 | 380 | 30 | 29 | 50.74 | 60.11 |
*All statistics provided by howstat.com
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