Opening stand

Various new milestones were created during the recently played three Test series between England and New Zealand. The most outstanding and effective among them were Tom Latham (151: His 17th Test century, which drew him level with Martin Crowe) and Devon Conway (157: His 8th century) sharing a 317-run opening stand at Trent Bridge in the third Test. They batted around 72 overs and ultimately contributed 72.4 percent of their first innings total in punishing fashion: 108-0 by lunch, 213-0 by tea and then got separated only at 317.

Latham and Conway, one of the best opening pairs in Tests, have so far recorded six 100-plus partnerships for the first wicket (New Zealand record), overtaking the pair of John Wright and Trevor Franklin (5) and are the only Kiwi pair to have added 2000-plus Test partnership runs. This time, they both scored 150-plus runs and are only the second opening pair to record the feat in England (First: Graeme Smith 277 and Herschelle Gibbs 179 in 2003 at Birmingham). Incidentally, Latham recorded his seventh 150-plus score in Tests (all as an opener), followed by Conway's four.