Australia may be left to go right

Australia's 15-year love affair with left-handed opening batsman could come to an end against Bangladesh early next month.

The retirement of Chris Rogers following the Ashes series means selectors were already tasked with the job of finding a new partner for regular opener David Warner.

But now that Warner has said he is "highly unlikely" to take part in the tour after suffering a fractured thumb against England on Saturday, the prospect of two new openers looms for the first Test in Chittagong in 32 days' time.

Left-handers Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja are among the leading contenders to fill the vacancy, as are right-handers Joe Burns and the uncapped Cameron Bancroft.

While Marsh and Khawaja have recent experience as openers, they may also be called on to take a spot in the middle order, which increases the chances of Burns and Bancroft – who open the batting at state level – taking one or both of the opening spots in the Test side.

Should a pair of right-handers get the nod, it would be the first time Australia has fielded an all right-handed opening duo since Michael Slater and Greg Blewett against New Zealand in March 2000.

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Slater and Blewett opened at the turn of the century // Getty

In the 175 Tests and more than 15 years since, the Aussies have used 14 different opening pairings and just two right-handers; Slater again for 13 Tests between 2000 and 2001, and Shane Watson for 27 Tests between 2009 and 2013.

The 10 other openers used this century - not including Glenn Maxwell's brief stint as an opener in the second innings in Delhi in 2013 - have been left-handers, a remarkable statistic but one that is borne out of coincidence rather than method.

The most successful left-handed pairing since 2000, of course, is that of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer.

Langer partnered Hayden for the first time when he took over from Slater for the fifth Ashes Test in 2001 at The Oval. For the next five-and-a-half years, the duo opened the batting with great success in all but five Tests until Langer retired in January, 2007.

On the rare occasions that Langer was unavailable due to injury in 2005 and 2006, the left-handed theme continued with Michael Hussey and then Phil Jaques stepping in to partner Hayden.

Jaques and two more left-handers – Simon Katich and, for one Test, Rogers – were called on when Hayden himself was injured in 2008, while another leftie in Phillip Hughes partnered Katich for five Tests upon Hayden's retirement in January 2009.

Hughes's axing midway through the 2009 Ashes signalled the start of Watson's stint as an opener and ended an eight-year stretch where Australia's opening combinations were strictly a right-handed free zone.

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Watson and Katich opened together between 2009 and 2010 // Getty

Watson and Katich opened together for 15 Tests until the latter's dumping in 2011 saw Hughes recalled to partner Watson, and then an all left-handed combination returned when Warner and Ed Cowan made their Test debuts in the summer of 2011-12.

That pairing played 17 Tests together before Watson briefly returned to the top for the first three Tests of the 2013 Ashes, but the decision to replace him with Warner signalled the beginning of Australia's most successful duo since Hayden and Langer.

Warner and Rogers batted together for 21 of the next 23 Tests, with the left-handed Marsh filling in for Rogers when the veteran was sidelined with concussion symptoms during their tour of the West Indies earlier this year.

Marsh's recent experience opening the batting puts him in good stead for the tour of Bangladesh, while Burns performed strongly at the top of the order in 50-over cricket on Australia A's recent tour of India and did enough to earn selection in Australia's ODI squad in England.

Burns batted at No.6 in the third and fourth Tests against India last season, but opens the batting for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield.

Burns's state captain Khawaja and Western Australia's Bancroft opened on the four-day leg of the 'A' Tour, and Bancroft stated his case with an innings of 150 in Chennai.

Veterans Michael Klinger and Cowan also have vast experience opening the batting in domestic cricket, while youngsters Jordan Silk and Nic Maddinson are highly-regarded and have experience at the top of the order.

AUSTRALIA'S OPENING PARTNERSHIPS SINCE 2000
(based on openers in Australia's first innings of each Test)

Michael Slater & Greg Blewett (2000)
3 Tests, Avg partnership: 11.20

Michael Slater & Matthew Hayden (2000-01)
13 Tests, Avg partnership: 45.09

Matthew Hayden & Justin Langer (2001-2007)
64 Tests, Avg partnership: 51.88

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Hayden and Langer, Australia's most successful opening partnership // Getty

Matthew Hayden & Michael Hussey (2005-2006)
3 Tests, Avg partnership: 76.33

Matthew Hayden & Phil Jaques (2005-2008)
7 Tests, Avg partnership: 71.27

Phil Jaques & Chris Rogers (2008)
1 Test, Avg partnership: 16.50

Phil Jaques & Simon Katich (2008)
3 Tests, Avg partnership: (65.60)

Matthew Hayden & Simon Katich (2008-09)
9 Tests, Avg partnership: 34.81

Simon Katich & Phillip Hughes (2009-10)
6 Tests, Avg partnership: 60.40

Simon Katich & Shane Watson (2009-10)
15 Tests, Avg partnership: 54.39

Shane Watson & Phillip Hughes (2010-11)
9 Tests, Avg partnership: 38.00

Phillip Hughes & David Warner (2011)
2 Tests, Avg partnership: 23.25

David Warner & Ed Cowan (2011-2013)
17 Tests, Avg partnership: 43.48

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Warner and Cowan opened together in 17 Test matches // Getty

Shane Watson & Chris Rogers (2013)
3 Tests, Avg partnership: 49.00

Chris Rogers & David Warner (2013-15)
21 Tests, Avg partnership: 52.75

David Warner & Shaun Marsh (2015)
2 Tests, Avg partnership: 43.00