5 top South African Test opening pairs of all time

#1 Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith (2002-2008)

An unstoppable duo

After Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs performed wonderfully opening the batting, the former had to move down to No. 3 with the emergence of Graeme Smith in 2002.

Smith and Gibbs started off with a couple of 50+ stands against Bangladesh before establishing themselves (as an opening pair) with a mammoth 368-run stand against Pakistan in Cape Town helping South Africa clinch the series 2-0. Three innings later, they were at it again and this time in England. On this occasion, they forged a 338-run stand in the first Test of the series and set the tone. In 2004, Smith and Gibbs put on their 3rd triple century stand and this time it was against West Indies.

The right-hand and left-hand combination worked brilliantly for Gibbs and Smith. In 56 innings they opened the batting, the duo amassed 2983 runs at an average of 55.24 which included 7-century stands.