England have had quite a few misses in the ongoing IND vs ENG series but one thing that has clicked for them throughout the series is the opening partnership of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley. Duckett and Crawley on Thursday brought up their 5th 50-run partnership of the series in the IND vs ENG 5th Test.
Although the openers have not been able to convert their starts to big scores more often than not, the feat remains a rare achievement. Only Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson in 1964 achieved 5 50-run opening stands in a series in India. For India, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir has achieved a similar feat against Pakistan in 2005.
Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley stitched together a partnership of 64 runs in the IND vs ENG 5th Test. Stitching 5 50+ opening stands in a single series is not an easy feat to achieve. The only other England opening pair to register five 50-plus stands in a Test series in the last 76 years was that of Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss in The Ashes 2005.
After Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe (5 in The Ashes 1924/25) and Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook (6 on the SA tour in 1948/49), Crawley and Duckett are the third opening combination for England to accomplish this feat in an away series.
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