Team England's opening debacle persists
In the 3rd Test against South Africa, England’s opening pair of Alistair Cook and Keaton Jennings scored 12 and 30 runs for the 1st wicket in the first and the second innings respectively.
Although England is dominating the Oval Test, this lack of runs at the top of the innings is surely a cause of worry for the team management.
Cook’s valiant and gritty 88 in the first innings laid a strong foundation for England and it has also ended the questions hovering over the left-hand batsman’s current batting form.
However, the issue is about his batting partner.
So far in three Tests, Jennings has scores of 8, 33, 0, 3, 0, and 48.
That makes up 92 runs in six innings with two ducks. These numbers are disappointing and even though Jennings looked promising in the second innings with a score of 48, there is a high chance of him being dropped for the next Test.
England’s opening woes
The issue of openers has been troubling England since Andrew Strauss’ retirement from Test cricket in 2012.
Since that year, Alistair Cook has opened the innings for England with 12 different players. 12 partners in six years is a record in itself.
Only two players managed to open the innings in more than ten Tests. Nick Compton and Alex Hales have played 10 and 11 Tests respectively as openers, but both failed to create a permanent place in the team.
This list reflects England team management’s restlessness and also talks about the sheer talent available in England to tackle the new ball. No other country has used as many batting combinations at the top of the order in the last five years.
Among the 13 batting pairs used by England since 2012, the combination of Cook and Compton was the most successful, followed by that of Cook and Hales. The current pair of Cook - Jennings averages 35.88 and on several occasions looked highly promising.
However, none of these 13 pairs showed the consistency that could force the selectors to offer them a long rope.
This lack of consistency by the opening pair has become a routine for England cricket and it has added the extra burden on the middle order which except for Joe Root looks highly vulnerable.
Alastair Cook: Constant despite the storm
While England has failed miserably in the search of Strauss’ successor, Cook, the most senior player in this England team, has remained highly consistent.
Since 2012, the left-handed batsman has scored 4658 runs at an average of 43.94 in 60 Tests and has also amassed 10 hundreds. His quality batting has ensured that England’s opening woes are limited to only one end of the wicket.
Only David Warner has scored more runs than the England opener during this period.
Although Cook’s tally of 10 tons is far behind Warner’s tally of 16 hundreds, the English batsman has scored the most number of fifties in this period.
He has 26 fifties, while Warner is second in the list with 23 fifties.
Australia v England - Fourth Test: Day 3
However, things have started to fall apart for the legendary England opener as well. Since his masterful innings of 263 at Abu Dhabi against Pakistan in 2015, he has scored only two centuries in the last 45 innings and currently has not reached the triple figure mark in the last 14 innings.
Cook having a bad patch is the last thing England team management would want at this stage as he is their steel pillar who is holding everything together at the top of the batting order.
And his fall - which is only human - will make things extremely difficult.
The Future of England’s openers
Currently, it seems that Cook will stay at the opening position for some more time. Although he has become rusty, he still is the best option among the current lot for the England team management.
Jennings' future, however, seems gloomy. He will be lucky to get a place in the playing XI for the fourth Test and even if he gets a chance, that should be one of his last to prove his capabilities.
Alex Hales, the flamboyant right-hand batsman, should be in the contention if Jennings fails. He may lack the temperament needed, but he surely has the skills and as he displayed in the past, he excels in the art of playing the waiting game.
Haseeb Hameed, the 20-year old opener who made a solid start to his Test career by scoring two fifties in India is also in in contention. In fact, he may be picked over Hales as he has better composure among the two and can play for long periods.
However, his record in the current county season has been poor and this lean patch has drastically affected his chances of making it to the national team. But a few triple figure scores could again make him a strong candidate for the opening position.
For now, England’s hope of solving the question of a reliable opening pair rests on the shoulders of the duo of Cook and Jennings. But if this pair fails then the old practice of shuffling openers will be back in fashion.