An unwanted record is achieved as a former England captain expresses his concerns over Joe Root's top order
England batting woes hit historic low
England’s batting woes have hit a historic low with top-order pair Alastair Cook and Mark Stoneman the holders of an unwanted title: statistically, their country’s worst-ever opening partnership.
Together, Cook and Stoneman average 18.75 for the first wicket, the lowest average of the 16 England opening pairs that have batted at least 20 times together.
The combination of Cook and Alex Hales previously owned the record low average for an England opening duo, but their 34.20 is nearly double the output of the current partnership.
In the ongoing first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s, England lost their first wicket with scores of 12 and 1 on the board and the pair has put on just two half-century stands since joining forces at Edgbaston against the West Indies in August last year.
In their third innings together, Cook and Stoneman put on 58 in Leeds, while six innings later they put on 53 against an Australian outfit armed with a pink ball at Adelaide.
Since Adelaide, the pair hasn’t gone past 35, but former England captain Michael Vaughan has concerns about England’s entire top order, not just the opening duo.
At Lord’s, England were reduced to 5-149 in the first innings and 6-110 in the second, continuing the batting woes suffered at the hands of Australia and New Zealand this past summer.
In seven Tests in the Antipodes, England lost their first five wickets for fewer than 150 runs on six occasions, including the catastrophic 10-58 in Auckland.
Vaughan says the re-jigged England batting order, which sees skipper Joe Root at No.3, Dawid Malan one spot lower and dynamic allrounder Ben Stokes back at No.6, contracts a "disease" after the loss of the first wicket, which is happening with very little on the scoreboard.
"The same problems that we spoke about in the (northern) winter, that we’ve spoken about quite consistently for two-three years, are still the same problems this week," Vaughan said on BBC’s Test Match Special on Saturday.
"The top order, there’s just no solidarity, there’s no consistent way that they play.
"They seem to always find ways of getting out. Once they lose one wicket it’s like a little disease that runs through that dressing room and they’re going to lose two, three and four (wickets) really quickly.
"There’s always a little collapse around the corner with this England Test match team."
Vaughan continued: "I look at the top order of England, when I watch them play white-ball cricket, I look around the team and go ‘Yep, they all know their roles’ and you can see partnerships developing.
"Whether it’s with ball in hand, when they’re out in the outfield, it feels like a really well-operated unit. With the bat you know the partnerships are there.
"I look at the England Test top order and I don’t see any kind of partnerships that I look at with any confidence. I don’t see that.
"We’ve just seen (an unbeaten 125-run) partnership in (Dom) Bess and (Jos) Buttler, which was just down to full control.
"They weren’t rash, they just waited for the ball, they timed the ball nicely, they ran between the wickets hard.
"I’ve not seen that from the England top-order for a long, long time in Test cricket on a consistent basis and that is a real concern."
Qantas tours of England and Zimbabwe
ODI squad: Tim Paine (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye
T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth
Qantas Tour of England
June 7: Warm-up v Sussex, Hove (D/N)
June 9: Warm-up v Middlesex, Lord's
June 13: First ODI, The Oval (D/N)
June 16: Second ODI, Cardiff
June 19: Third ODI, Trent Bridge (D/N)
June 21: Fourth ODI, Durham (D/N)
June 24: Fifth ODI, Old Trafford
June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)
Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Monday, July 2: Pakistan vs Australia
Tuesday, July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Wednesday, July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Thursday, July 5: Pakistan vs Australia
Friday, July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 8: Final