In cricket, it has long been accepted that synergies in batting partnerships are an important aspect in batting performance. This paper investigates the importance of partnerships in Test and one-day cricket by comparing the performance of opening batsmen with their "synergistic" partners to the performance of these batsmen with alternative partners. In Test cricket, a bivariate performance statistic based on the strike rate and the batting average is assessed using a nonparametric binomial

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... procedure. In one-day cricket, a univariate performance statistic based on runs scored relative to resources consumed is assessed using a single sample t-test. Our statistical analyses conclude that synergies in opening partnerships may be considered a sporting myth.