Who, exactly, is Mark Richardson up against in this discussion? In terms of attritional openers... it's basically Atherton... Langer.. and that's about it - it's not exactly BEEN a great generation for genuine openers!
Is Richardson really unworthy of comparison with that pair?
If you rate flat track bullies like Sehwag, Gayle and Jayasuria as something more than overgrown pinch hitters then you widen the pool.... but Richardson surely eclipsed THAT trio!
Standing out as a great middle order batsmen in this generation has been tough: the standard set by Lara amd Tendulkar is such that even Steve Waugh, Kirsten, Ponting, Inzi, Dravid and Kallis have played second fiddle... but list they greats of this generation and how many are openers you'd be prepared to see bat for your life?
As I noted in the original thread... his final 6 innings (including 2 in Bangladesh) yielded <91 runs in total at 15.16... but aside from that one blemish his record pretty much speaks for itself....
Code:
Mat I NO Runs HS1 HS2 HS3 Ave 100 50 0
To Summer 2004 34 59 3 2685 145 143 106 47.94 4 19 1
v Australia 3 5 0 152 57 30 30 30.40 0 1 0
v Bangladesh 2 2 0 226 143 83 - 113.00 1 1 0
v England 6 12 0 541 101 93 76 45.08 1 4 0
v India 4 7 1 316 145 89 28 52.66 1 1 0
v Pakistan 6 11 1 507 106 82 73* 50.70 1 3 0
v South Africa 6 10 0 342 77 60 46 34.20 0 2 0
v Sri Lanka 2 4 1 201 85 55 55 67.00 0 3 0
v West Indies 2 4 0 207 95 71 41 51.75 0 2 1
v Zimbabwe 3 4 0 193 99 75 13 48.25 0 2 0
home 16 27 2 1194 143 106 89 47.76 2 8 0
away 18 32 1 1491 145 101 99 48.09 2 11 1
season 2000/01 9 14 1 710 106 99 77 54.61 1 6 0
season 2001/02 8 13 0 550 143 83 76 42.30 1 4 0
season 2002 3 6 0 247 95 71 41 41.16 0 2 1
season 2002/03 2 4 1 144 89 28 14* 48.00 0 1 0
season 2003 2 4 1 201 85 55 55 67.00 0 3 0
season 2003/04 7 12 0 464 145 82 45 38.66 1 1 0
season 2004 3 6 0 369 101 93 73 61.50 1 2 0
toss won 20 34 2 1731 145 106 101 54.09 3 14 0
toss lost 14 25 1 954 143 95 77 39.75 1 5 1