Was Kane Williamson 639 in three matches the most runs scored by any batsman in three consecutive matches?

In the recently concluded two-match series Kane Williamson finished with 388 runs in three inns. The Kiwi skipper also scored 238 runs, the minimum never been scored in the international course. The New Zealand star batsman just before this series smashed his career-best 251 against West Indies in the Hamilton Test. This is nowhere close to a world record 779 runs held by Wally Hammond during the 1929 Ashes. The next in the queues are Sangakkara 766 runs and Gooch 763 runs. Williamson 639 is 26th on the list. If we look into a particular series, most run in a three-match series record held by Gooch. The Englishman amassed 752 runs in the 1990 home series against India, including world record 456 runs in the London test.

In the ongoing SCG test, Steve Smith scored his 27th century in 136 inns, second-fastest after Bradman. Where does he rank among most runs in 52 matches stretch? Has anyone crossed Bradman’s 6996 runs in 52 tests tally (in any consecutive run of 52 tests batted)?

Bradman figure always in the limelight!! There has been numerous great run in the test cricket, yet Bradman seems to ask. So, how do you break the barrier? The answer to which is Smith was close yet too far; his best run of 52 tests was from the 2014 Sydney test to the 2019 Oval Test. The Aussie scored 6003 runs at an avg of 75.03 in his best 52 run match.

The below table lists different players max run of 52 matches.

Smith century was first by an Australian against India since the 2017 Dharamshala test. Is this the longest gap between two-century against India?

The last century by an Oz against team India was also scored by Steve Smith 111 in the Dharamshala. The gap between this and the present SCG test is 1384 days, the ninth occasion when no century was scored for more than 1000 days. The longest gap is between 1948 -1956 as there was no series played between these two nations. In the 1964-65 Australia tour of India no batsman scored a century, the only three-digit figure of that series was scored by Pataudi in the Madras Test. The next 100 was scored by Simpson in the Adelaide Test of the 1967 series, making a gap of 2891 days. This is max days when a series went without a century by an Australia.

In the last decade, we have been a sharp decline in quality opening pairs in Test cricket. Was this the worst decade for opening batsman in test cricket post-war?

2020 has been the worst decade as far as opening pair is concern. In this decade 22 pairs have started the proceedings in 89 inns at an average of 31.68. The positive thing is that this decade has just started, hope we see a stable opening pair across countries in the coming years. If we consider decades from post-war till last, the answer is yes. The last decade was well below average, scoring at a dismal average of 34.51. The best decade where at least 200 inns (roughly 100 tests) were played by openers 1950 is at the top with an average score of 40.5 and fifty plus stand after every 3.6 inns. 2000s was a remarkable not far behind 30s, with an average stand of 40.05 and fifty plus after every 3.7 inns.

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