Top 7 Best Women Openers in Tests (2026 Updated Rankings)

Test cricket is the longest format of the game. Matches last for five days. The openers face the new ball when it swings and seams the most. They have to survive the initial pressure. They have to build the innings. They lay the foundation for everything that follows. If the openers fail, the team is in trouble. If the openers succeed, big totals become possible.

Seven women have proven themselves to be among the best openers in the history of Test cricket. They hail from India, Pakistan, and England. They have forged record partnerships and individual scores that remain unmatched to this day. They have consistently scored runs throughout their long careers. Their statistics speak volumes about their abilities. Their teams relied on them to face the new ball and build the innings. They did this better than anyone else.

1. Smriti Mandhana: The Modern Record Setter

Smriti Mandhana is from India. She is one of the players who holds the record for the highest opening partnership in women’s Test history. This partnership was of 292 runs, which she forged with Shafali Verma against South Africa in 2024. In that partnership, she scored 149 runs, which is one of the top individual scores by any female opener.

This partnership record is highly significant. An opening partnership sets the tone for the entire innings. A 292-run partnership means the team starts with a strong foundation. The middle-order batsmen can bat freely. The bowlers get tired. The fielding team’s morale drops. Mandhana and Verma achieved all of this.

Her consistent Test performances and record-breaking partnerships make her one of the top Test openers in the world today. She is a left-handed batter with excellent strokeplay. She can defend when the ball is swinging and attack when it’s not. This balance makes her effective in all conditions.

2. Shafali Verma: The Aggressive Force

Shafali Verma is from India. She was the second part of that record-breaking 292-run opening partnership in 2024. She scored 205 runs. Scoring a double century as an opener is incredibly difficult. In women’s Test cricket, it’s even more remarkable. Verma achieved this through aggressive batting and by dominating the bowling attack.

Scoring 205 runs as an opener in a single innings demonstrates exceptional concentration and skill. Test innings last for hours. Maintaining focus and form for such a long period, while facing different bowlers and varying conditions, requires immense mental fortitude. Verma possesses this. At a young age, she has achieved something that most openers will never accomplish.

Her aggressive batting and record-breaking partnership make her one of the most impactful openers in recent years. She doesn’t play cautiously; she attacks. This approach immediately puts pressure on the bowlers.

3. Kiran Baluch: The Record Holder

Kiran Baluch is from Pakistan. Her score is the highest individual score ever made by a woman in Test cricket. She scored 242 runs against the West Indies in 2004. She achieved this feat while opening the batting. It is a remarkable achievement in Test history.

No other woman has scored so many runs in a single Test innings. This record has stood for over twenty years. To break it, an opening batter would have to play an extraordinary innings, bat for an entire day or more, and continue playing the next day without losing focus.

Baluch’s record score remains iconic and unparalleled in women’s Test cricket. When people discuss the greatest Test innings played by women, her 242 runs are always mentioned. That is lasting fame. It is a career-defining achievement.

4. Tammy Beaumont: The English Star

Tammy Beaumont is from England. She scored a double century as an opener in a women’s Test match, making 208 runs. This is a remarkable achievement for an English woman Test opener and demonstrates her reliability at the top of the order.

A double century in Test cricket is an achievement that most batters never accomplish. It requires immense concentration and considerable physical stamina. Beaumont achieved this feat while opening the batting and facing the new ball, when the ball is at its most dangerous.

Her massive score shows that she can play long innings and convert good starts into big scores. England had high expectations of her, and she delivered.

5. Janette Brittin: The All-Time Leader

Janette Brittin is from England. She holds the record for the most runs scored in women’s Test cricket history, having amassed 1,935 Test runs in her career. She also holds the record for the most Test centuries, with five to her name. No other woman has scored as many Test centuries.

These records demonstrate consistent excellence over a long career. She batted in the top order and often opened the innings. Scoring 1,935 Test runs required playing many matches and consistently scoring runs in most of them. Five Test centuries mean five separate innings in which she scored over a hundred runs.

Her remarkable record stood for decades. Even today, with more Test cricket being played, her records still stand. This makes her one of the greatest opening batters of all time. She defined what excellence looks like in women’s Test batting.

6. Charlotte Edwards: The Second Greatest Accumulator

Charlotte Edwards is from England. She scored 1,676 runs in Test matches. In terms of total career runs, she ranks second only to Betty Wilson. She scored four Test centuries during her long career.

Being second to Betty Wilson is no disgrace. Wilson’s records are exceptional. Edwards came closest to matching her records. Her four Test centuries demonstrate her ability to consistently play big innings. She was a formidable top-order batter who often anchored the English innings.

When Edwards opened the batting, England knew they could rely on her for stability. She would stay at the crease, wear down the bowlers, and lay a solid foundation. This reliability made her one of the best top-order openers of her era.

7. Enid Bakewell: The Average Master

Enid Bakewell is from England. She scored 1,078 Test runs at an average of approximately 59.88. This is one of the highest batting averages among women in Test cricket. She scored four Test centuries, demonstrating her ability to play big innings at the top of the order.

An average of 59.88 means that on average, she scored nearly sixty runs every time she was dismissed. Maintaining such an average in Test cricket, where bowlers have ample time to set fields and plan dismissals, is remarkable. It speaks volumes about both her technical skill and mental fortitude.

Although she wasn’t an opener in every match throughout her career, her formidable batting at the top of the order places her among the finest openers. She batted wherever the team needed her, but often at the top, and there she succeeded better than almost anyone else.

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