u/Mahiasian

Just think how bad our test stats would be if we hadn't had a good last decade. Unbeaten against Ireland and Zimbabwe, have lost 2 tests against Bangladesh. Then it gets grim.

Australia: played 62, won 8, lost 36, drawn 18. ( 2 test wins in last 33 years).

England: P 118, W 16, L 55, D 47.

India: P 65, W 16, L 22, D 27.

Pakistan: P 62, W 14, L 25, D 23.

South Africa: P 49, W 7, L 26, D 16. (2 of those 7 came in last series).

Sri Lanka: P 40, W 18, L 11, D 11.

West Indies: P 52, W 19, L 13, D 20.

EDIT: just adding this wasn't to bag us - was merely pointing out how few wins we have against some nations still, and the level of catch up required to make an even win/loss record with them.

Apologies if my rudimentary stat skills are incorrect. I've tried to use Cricinfo to pull this together.

New Zealand has played 487 men's test matches. I believe that Conway and Latham's efforts overnight was only our 55th opening century stand, of which they have contributed 6 as a partnership (they've had others, with other openers).

Here's the kicker. Of those 55, 21 - or 38% - have occurred since 2010. There was 34 in 80 years, and 21 in 16.

We often talk about the golden era with bowlers (Boult, Southee, Wagner) and our batting focused more on Williamson and Taylor. Our openers have their issues, but based on our history, they are just as shiny and golden during this era.