Howzat for openers? Not all that good, frankly

TWENTY-SIX is not a magic number if you are an Australian cricket fan.

It represents the number of times Australia has changed its opening partners since Australian coach Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden walked through the gates together for the last time at the SCG in January 2007. That’s about two a year or one every four Tests. It is a crippling statistic.

Eight of the 26 have been united for just one innings. In the three years since Chris Rogers retired Australia has fielded 10 different partnerships at the top of the order.

The union of Aaron Finch and Marcus Harris lasted just three balls yesterday before Finch played an airy drive and saw his stumps uprooted.

Somewhere in Melbourne there would have been Victorian cricket officials saying “we told you so’’ because Finch has not opened for his state in red-ball cricket for four years after averaging 18 in that position for Victoria in red-ball cricket. For all his white-ball prowess, there has long been a feeling Finch does not have the defensive fibre to cope with the swinging red ball on wickets doing something.

Harris may have made only 26 but he was a genuine bright spot for Australia. It looked like his 20th Test rather than his first. When he squeezed a boundary through the slips, his cheeky smile was that of a man relishing the challenge rather than being intimidated by it.

Harris had faced 875 deliveries in red-ball cricket this summer; Finch just 91.

Langer is the man who must select and coach Australia’s openers and hopefully in his four-year term he may unearth a duo who were as close as he and Hayden for a team without decent openers is like a car with a faulty engine. Langer only had to be reminded of the Power of Two when he was at the Bradman Foundation Dinner in Sydney and hopped on stage with Hayden.

The laughs flowed. The years fell away. Old stories and laughter filled the room.

This is the vibe Australia craves but it seemed a long way away at the Adelaide Oval.