Most prolific batting pairs for Australia across all three formats

Only a small minority of batsmen are capable of scoring runs across the three formats of the game with sustained success and hence, batsmen who can form fruitful partnerships across the three disparate formats are a bit special.

Australia has produced some of the finest batsmen in the world throughout their history and over the past decade and a half, since cricket became a three-format sport, they have proven that some of their best players can adapt to all the formats with ease.

Some of their greatest players have created legendary partnerships that have been successful across the three formats of the game and here is a look at 5 of the most prolific.

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#5 Damien Martyn and Ricky Ponting

The Australian team that dominated world cricket for most of the early to late noughties had some of the best batsmen in their line up and while Ricky Ponting was definitely the best batsman in the side, Damien Martyn was not far behind when it came to matching the Tasmanian stroke for stroke.

Ponting generally batted at number 3 and Martyn batted at number 4 in both Test and ODI cricket.

Although Martyn played in only 4 T20 internationals, the sheer weight of the runs that they piled on as a pair gets the pair an entry into this list. In just 94 innings that they batted together, they piled up 4739 runs at an average of 53.24.

They had 12 century-plus stands and 24 stands that were in excess of 50 runs. Their most famous stand was the 234 run stand that they put on in the 2003 World Cup final against India, that virtually decided the final.

#4 Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke

The former Australian captain Ricky Ponting's prowess as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game beyond question and it is further exemplified in the way that he created so many superb partnerships across formats, with different batsmen.

One of the most fruitful partnerships in Australian cricket history was the one between Ricky Ponting and his heir Michael Clarke.

Both were ultra-aggressive batsmen and were almost always able to get on top of most bowling attacks in the world. However, what made their partnership particularly brilliant was the fact that they did it across the three formats of the game.

They were involved in 95 partnerships across formats and aggregated 5092 runs at an outstanding average of 56.57. The star pair were involved in 16 partnerships in excess of hundred runs, while the number of fifty-plus partnerships stood at 18.

#3 Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey

The former Australian captain Michael Clarke remains one of the best middle-order batsmen to have ever played for the country and along with Mike Hussey, he formed one of the most prolific batting partnerships in the country's cricket history. Both of them batted in the middle-order for Australia in all the three separate formats of the game and the pair formed one of the most formidable partnerships in recent history.

They were both excellent against spin and their abilities against fast bowling were beyond any doubt. When both were on form, they were quite unstoppable and the results were an aggregate of 5755 runs in 119 innings in which they batted together. Clarke and Hussey put up century-plus stands 16 times and crossed the 50 run mark on 23 occasions.

#2 Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden

They are possibly the most celebrated opening pair in limited overs cricket and for the better part of a decade (2001-2009), the left-handed pair of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist unleashed mayhem.

While their exploits in ODIs and T20s are well documented, the partnerships they enjoyed in Test cricket were no less damaging to the opposition. Considering the fact that Hayden opened the innings and Gilchrist batted at number 7, they did not bat together often enough but when they did, sparks flew.

Their famous decimation of India's spin attack at Mumbai back in 2001 is a case in point. They added 197 in just over 32 overs and turned the game on its head. Hayden-Gilchrist is the second most prolific pair in Australian cricket history across formats with a combined total of 6451 runs in 137 partnerships. They added 100 or more 20 times and crossed the 50 run mark 31 times.

#1 Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting

Between 2001 and 2009, the Australian top order terrorised bowlers all over the world and that too in all the three formats of the game. Much of that was down to opening batsman Matthew Hayden and number 3 Ricky Ponting.

While Hayden is definitely one of the greatest opening batsmen to have ever played for Australia, Ponting is perhaps their best batsman since Sir Donald Bradman and hence it was not a surprise that they went on to create one of the greatest batting partnerships in the country's history.

The fact that one of them opened and the other batted at three, across the three formats was also a reason why they were involved in as many as 152 partnerships. However, their batting abilities, technical excellence and the constant penchant of attacking the opposition bowling attack made them a frightening prospect.

They formed the basis of the batting of one of the greatest teams in cricket history and won everything in sight during that period. Well, except a T20 World Cup. They averaged a monumental 59.92 and racked up as many as 26 century-plus partnerships, in addition to 37 fifty-plus partnerships.