How to Build a Batting Partnership in Cricket
The skills and strategies that help two batters build a partnership: communication, running between wickets, rotating strike, and managing pressure.
What Makes a Good Partnership?
A batting partnership is the cumulative runs scored while two specific batters are at the crease together. Long partnerships are crucial because they reduce the burden on other batters, tire fielders, and allow a team to accumulate runs at a steady rate. The best partnerships combine complementary styles: often one aggressive and one defensive batter.
Communication Between Batters
Effective calling is the foundation of safe running. The standard system: the batter who best sees the ball — typically the striker for straight shots, the non-striker for drives to mid-off/on — makes the call: 'Yes', 'No', or 'Wait'. The non-striker must be ready to back up every delivery by moving forward before the ball is bowled, reducing the distance they need to cover.
Rotating the Strike
Rotating strike means converting deliveries that cannot be hit for a boundary into singles, keeping both batters active and preventing bowlers from settling into a rhythm against one batter. A team that rotates well scores 10–15 extra runs per innings simply from singles that others would have left as dot balls.
Dealing with the New Batter
When a wicket falls, the new batter arrives under pressure — fresh to the crease, without having faced a ball. An experienced batting partner should shield the new batter from the bowling attack for the first few deliveries by taking the strike at the start of overs where possible. This gives the newcomer time to settle without the pressure of facing the opposition's best bowler immediately.
Partnership Records in Context
The world record Test partnership is 624 runs — Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene for Sri Lanka against South Africa in 2006. In ODIs, the record is 331 by Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (India). These records are testament to the technical skill, physical endurance, and mental resilience required to bat together for extended periods at the highest level.
Frequently asked questions
What is a century partnership in cricket?
A century partnership is when two batters together score 100 or more runs before either is dismissed. It is the most common milestone for a partnership and is noted in the scorecard with an asterisk or highlighted separately in broadcasts.
How is a partnership broken?
A partnership ends when either batter is dismissed — by any mode of dismissal. The scorecard records each partnership by listing the batters involved, the runs scored, and the wicket at which it ended.
Does a not-out partnership count as a record?
Yes. The best unbroken partnerships are often not-out partnerships that lasted until the innings ended — such as a winning last-wicket stand. They count in partnership records and are noted as 'unbroken' or with an asterisk.