As much as I am a one-eyed Cantabrian, and as much as I admire Tom Latham, I agree he's got some way to go yet to achieve John Wright's level as an opener, despite what the bare stats say. Wright batted through an era of fearsome West Indies bowling, and some famous Australian attacks, and faced them fairly often. His 141 against Thomson, Alderman and co in 1982 sticks in the memory, as does his 1990 captain's knock of 117* in Wellington against Australia, to create a comfortable win from the type of situation NZ traditionally found difficult. And then there was the 75 and 138 at the Basin in 1987 against Marshall, Garner, Walsh and Holding, when no-one other than Martin Crowe could score much at all. Wright scored centuries against all other test nations. Not many gaps in that resume.
As much as I am a one-eyed Cantabrian, and as much as I admire Tom Latham, I agree he's got some way to go yet to achieve John Wright's level as an opener, despite what the bare stats say. Wright batted through an era of fearsome West Indies bowling, and some famous Australian attacks, and faced them fairly often. His 141 against Thomson, Alderman and co in 1982 sticks in the memory, as does his 1990 captain's knock of 117* in Wellington against Australia, to create a comfortable win from the type of situation NZ traditionally found difficult. And then there was the 75 and 138 at the Basin in 1987 against Marshall, Garner, Walsh and Holding, when no-one other than Martin Crowe could score much at all. Wright scored centuries against all other test nations. Not many gaps in that resume.