5 most prolific batting pairs for South Africa across formats

#1 Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith

Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith

Graeme Smith replaced Gary Kirsten at the top of the order following his emergence and created a hugely successful opening partnership with Herschelle Gibbs, across the three formats of the game. While both players had the game to grind their way to a decent opening stand in Tests, they were also capable of attacking from the outset when it came to limited overs cricket.

The pair batted together on 164 occasions (primarily as openers) across the three formats of the game and were particularly famous for getting South Africa off to lightning quick starts in limited overs cricket.

Their most famous partnership was perhaps the 187 they put on for the 2nd wicket in just under 21 overs in that famous record-breaking chase at the Wanderers against Australia back in 2006. Gibbs and Smith totalled 7138 runs as a pair and their partnerships averaged 44.61 across the three formats. They put on 19 hundred-run stands and crossed the fifty run mark 29 times.