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Pressure is mounting on England to discard Zak Crawley at the top of the order.
Eight of Crawley’s last 15 Test scores have ended in single figures. Five others have not reached 30.
Ahead of the third Test against India at Lord’s, it’s worth recalling what England’s opening pair was and how it fared at this tough hunting ground.
Lord’s can be synonymous with the opening bowlers succeeding with the new ball against opening batters undone by early swing and seam.
1. Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence – August 2024
- Opposition: Sri Lanka
- First-innings partnership: 33
- Second-innings partnership: 22
Duckett and Lawrence hit 40 and nine, respectively, in the first innings and 24 and seven, respectively, in the second. The experiment with Lawrence as a Test opener did not pay off.
He was outdone by seamer Lahiru Kumara in both innings. England won the match, regardless.
2. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley – July 2024
- Opposition: West Indies
- First-innings partnership: 29
Crawley hit 76 and Duckett three in England‘s only innings of the match. It was a rare instance of Crawley scoring a lot more runs than Duckett.
But it didn’t necessarily remove questions around Crawley’s place at the top of the knock – and those queries remain to date.
3. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley – July 2023
- Opposition: Australia
- First-innings partnership: 91
- Second-innings partnership: 9
Crawley and Duckett put in shifts of 48 and 98, respectively in the first innings. The second was far less impressive for Crawley with three, while Duckett reached 83.
Crawley was stumped in the first innings and caught down the leg-side in the second in a couple of contrived dismissals.
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4. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley – June 2023
- Opposition: Ireland
- First-innings partnership: 109
- Second-innings partnership: 12 unbroken
Crawley hit a half-ton and Duckett a big century in this one-off Test. The argument against the England openers here is that the opposition bowling attack was vastly inferior to what they usually faced.
The counterargument would be that Crawley, then, should have converted to three figures as well.
5. Zak Crawley and Alex Lees – August 2022
- Opposition: South Africa
- First-innings partnership: 6
- Second-innings partnership: 20
Lees’ Test career was relatively short-lived – 10 matches all in 2022. Two came at Lord’s. The second was worse for him than the first. He fell five and 35.
Crawley wasn’t any better with nine and 13 in an innings victory for the visitors.
6. Zak Crawley and Alex Lees – June 2022
- Opposition: New Zealand
- First-innings partnership: 59
- Second-innings partnership: 31
Lees put in a couple of promising starts of 25 and 20, but failed to convert either. Crawley all but pledged more en route to 43, but then got out – and managed just nine in the second innings.
Crawley got out to the tall Kyle Jamieson twice. Bigger bounce and lateral movement off the seam accounted for his dismissals.
7. Rory Burns and Dom Sibley – August 2021
- Opposition: India
- First-innings partnership: 23
- Second-innings partnership: 1
Burns hit 49 to Sibley’s 11 in the first innings. They both fell for ducks in the second. Jasprit Bumrah and company were just too good for the England openers on the day.
Ominous signs for England’s current openers ahead of this week’s third Test against India, indeed. That said, Duckett and even Crawley are arguably stronger options now than Burns and Sibley ever were then.
8. Rory Burns and Dom Sibley – June 2021
- Opposition: New Zealand
- First-innings partnership: 4
- Second-innings partnership: 49
Burns hit a century in the first innings, while Sibling collected a duck. In the second, Sibley hit 60 not out to Burns’ 25 as the match ended in a draw.
Their individual and collective strike rates overed in the late 30s and early 40s – a far cry from the ‘Bazball’ rates we’re witnessing from Duckett and team-mates these days.
9. Rory Burns and Jason Roy – August 2019
- Opposition: Australia
- First-innings partnership: 0
- Second-innings partnership: 9
Veritable limited-overs specialist Roy’s Test career was never going to last long, was it? One of his five Tests was this Ashes battle. Roy collected a duck and two. Burns hit 53 and 29 as the truer of the Test openers.
Roy got another go in the Test XI later in the series, this time in the middle order with Joe Denly at the top alongside Burns. This combination, too, didn’t work for England in defeat to the old enemy.
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The post England openers’ Test records at Lord’s since 2020: The context amid Zak Crawley’s struggles appeared first on Cricket365.
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