Australian opener Justin Langer’s career in numbers

Justin Langer was one of the best openers Australia produced in their history who was a part of their golden era in the longer format. The left-hander from Western Australia had often fought for the spot in the team despite scoring the bulk of runs at the domestic level due to the competition. He ended his career as the 7th highest run-getter in Test cricket for Australia after winning the Ashes 5-0 at home. Langer was well known for his partnerships along with another left-hander Matthew Hayden at the top.

On occasion of Justin Langer’s 47th birthday, we look at the records and achievements from his career.

12 – Number of double centuries Langer scored in his first-class career. These are the joint 3rd most by an Australian in FC cricket. Don Bradman holds a record 37 double tons in FC cricket while Bill Ponsford and Bob Simpson scored 13 and 12 double hundreds respectively.

86 – Justin Langer’s 86 first-class centuries are the 2nd most for an Australian after Don Bradman’s 117. His centuries are also the most for any player who made their FC debut after 1990.

288 – In the Test match against West Indies at Perth in 2004, Langer scored 191 and 97 in respective innings. Thus he became the first and only player to record a score in 190s and 90s in the same Test match. Five other players scored 90s in both the innings of a Test match.

1481 – Langer’s 1481 runs in 2004 are the most by an Australian opener in a calendar year in Test cricket. These are overall the joint 2nd most Test runs by an opener in a year after Graeme Smith’s 1656 in 2008. England’s Michael Vaughan also scored 1481 Test runs while opening in 2002.

6081 – Langer’s partnership runs in Test cricket along with Matthew Hayden are the 4th most for any pair and the most for an Australian duo. They both shared 5655 runs while opening the innings which are the 2nd most in this format after Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes’ 6482 runs.

9406 – Langer’s 9406 runs in the Sheffield Shield are the most by any player for Western Australia. His 29 hundreds in the competition are also the most for his state. Langer also holds the record for scoring most runs for Western Australia in Domestic One-Day competition with 3374 runs.

28382 – His 28382 runs in first-class cricket are the most by an Australian player. In his last season in 2009, Langer went past Don Bradman’s tally of 28067 runs in FC cricket.