5 top South African Test opening pairs of all time

#2 Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith (2008-2009)

A run-scoring pair

After Gibbs was dropped in 2008, Neil McKenzie was recalled. McKenzie and Smith formed a brilliant opening pair. The duo continued the good work that Smith and Gibbs did in the previous years.

The pair started off with stands of 46, 12 and 52. But in their fourth innings, they put on a mammoth stand of 415 against Bangladesh at Chittagong. It was South Africa’s highest-ever opening stand and second-highest for any wicket. Both Smith and McKenzie registered double tons. They backed this stand up with a brilliant 132 against India in Chennai. During that tour to India, the duo’s least partnership was 26 as they forged 4 50+ stands in 5 innings.

As a pair, they batted in 27 innings together and scored 1664 runs at a brilliant average of 64.00. They had 4 century and 8 half-century partnerships.