Australia still searching for successful opening partnership after 26 changes in 11 years

Australia has changed its opening partners 26 times since coach Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden walked through the games for the last time in 2007. It’s a crippling statistic.

Aaron Finch of Australia is bowled by iIshant Sharma of India.

Twenty-six is not a magic number if you are an Australian cricket fan.

It represents the number of times Australia has changed its opening partners since coach Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden walked through the gates together for the last time at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2007.

LIVE: FOLLOW ALL THE ACTION FROM THE FIRST TEST

OH NO: SHAUN MARSH’S 130-YEAR-OLD NIGHTMARE STAT

FAILURE: WHY FINCH MAY NOT BE THE ANSWER

That’s about two a year or one every four Tests. It is a crippling statistic.

The twin peaks have been replaced by pillars of sand, as likely to be swept away as a sand castle stalked by a rising tide.

Eight of the 26 have been united for just one innings. In the three years since Chris Rogers retired Australia has fielded 10 different partnerships at the top of the order.

The union of Aaron Finch and Marcus Harris lasted just three balls today before Finch played an airy drive and saw his middle and off stumps uprooted.

Aaron Finch is bowled in the first over of the day. Picture: Sarah Reed

Somewhere in Melbourne there would have been Victorian cricket officials saying – with no celebration – “we told you so’’ because Finch has not opened for his state in red ball cricket for four years after averaging 18 in that position for Victoria in red ball cricket.

For all his white ball prowess, there has long been a feeling Finch does not have the defensive fibre to cope with the swinging red ball on wickets doing something.

The dismissal was reckless in so many ways.

Finch would have known that Ishant Sharma’s prime weapon was the inswinger and that the wicket was providing occasional “nibble’’ with the new ball.

The cover area was temptingly vacant but that also meant that simply making solid contact would have meant runs. He didn’t have to murder anything, but white ball habits are hard to shake.

Harris may have made only 26 on debut but he was a genuine bright spot for Australia. It looked like his 20th Test rather than his first.

When he squeezed a boundary through the slips, his cheeky smile was that of a man relishing the challenge rather than being intimidated by it.

He boldly advanced to the dangerous finger spinner Ravi Ashwin, who got him at the end caught at bat-pad but it was an honourable contest.

Marcus Harris looked comfortable in his first Test innings.

Significantly, Harris had faced 875 deliveries in red ball cricket this summer. Finch just 91.

Langer is the man who must select and coach Australia’s openers and hopefully in his four-year term he may an unearth a duo who were as close as he and Hayden, for a team without decent openers is like a car with a faulty engine.

Langer only had to be reminded of the Power of Two when he was at the Bradman Foundation Dinner in Sydney and hopped on stage with Hayden.

The laughs flowed. The years fell away. Old stories and laughter filled the room.

This is the vibe Australia craves, but it seemed a long way away at the Adelaide Oval.