Top 5 cricket teams with the best opening pairs in limited overs cricket history

#5 West Indies

Gordan Greenidge and Desmond Haynes were cut above the rest

The Mighty Windies of the 70s and 80s who ruled the roost in international cricket had one of the most formidable opening pairs in Gordan Greenidge and Desmond Haynes.

The combination were a cut above the rest piling up runs at will against quality bowling attacks. The pair showed their run-scoring pedigree by stitching 15-century partnerships, giving the Windies the decisive edge in building platforms for their explosive middle order to build upon.

In the early 90s, the West Indies had the enigmatic Brian Lara forming a stable opening pair with Haynes which worked wonders for them in the 1992 World Cup. The 90s saw a couple of seasoned West Indian openers in Sherwin Campbell, Phil Simmons, Philo Wallace, Daren Ganga and Stuart Williams make sporadic appearances but none could cement their position as regular openers.

Towards the turn of the millennium, Chris Gayle formed a handy opening combination with Wavell Hinds, providing the much-required stability for West Indies at the top of the innings. The powerfully built Gayle has been an explosive opener for the Windies for the last two decades but frequent tiffs with the Board has kept the Jamaican powerhouse in and out of the Maroon Brigade.

In recent times, diminutive opener Evin Lewis has caught the eyes of many with his belligerent hitting and promises to be West Indies' front-line opener for the future.

Before we end, a look at some of the other openers who provided their teams with the much-required opening salvo up the order.

Pakistan – Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, Rameez Raja, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohsin Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Naser Jhamshed

New Zealand - Nathan Astle, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Stephen Fleming,Jesse Ryder, John Wright, Lou Vincent

England - Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Alec Stewart, Alastair Cook, Mike Artheton, Graham Gooch, Robin Smith, Alex Hales, Ian Bell, Jason Roy

Zimbabwe – Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Alistair Campbell

Bangladesh – Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar

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