Top 10 Australian Test openers of all time 

#5 Arthur Morris

Arthur Morris

Arthur Morris is one of the most elegant batsmen Australia has ever produced. Playing in the era after the Second World War, Morris made his debut in the 1946/47 Ashes at home. He flopped in the first couple of Tests, but came back strongly in the following Tests he scored 3 centuries in 3 innings helping Australia win the Ashes.

In Bradman’s final Test series, the Sydney-born New South Wales opener outshone the great man as he scored 696 runs at an average of 87 in the 1948 Ashes. In his first 12 Tests, Morris scored 1401 runs with 7 hundreds at a stunning average of 81.90.

He looked like a perfect replacement for Bradman, once he retired. But inconsistency didn’t let him achieve the success he would have like to by the end of his career.

He ended up with 3533 runs at an average of 46.49. He scored 12 hundreds and 12 fifties in his 1-year career which ended abruptly after his wife of only 18 months was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, and lost her battle at the age of 33.