Dom Sibley and Dan Lawrence look a bit out of their depth: Michael Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has shared some stern words for Dominic Sibley and Dan Lawrence after another poor performance with the bat from the two batters. Vaughan questioned whether the duo is good enough to play at the international level. They have been in the mainframe of the English Test team for some time and are prolific run-getters at the county level in the last few years. 

Sibley has been criticized for the rate at which he scores his runs. He has a first-class strike rate of 40 and has batted with a strike rate of 35 in his 20 Tests so far. Despite playing 35 innings for England so far, he has scored close to 1000 runs at an average of 30.78. He has scored two centuries and five fifties but has been going through a rough patch with the bat. 

Dan Lawrence, too, has an average of less than 30 after 13 Test innings and has only three scores of more than fifty. The words from Vaughan though came after England’s batting came down crashing once again on the opening day of the first Test against India. Sibley played 70 balls for his 18 while Lawrence went for a four-ball duck.

We’re giving England too many excuses: Michael Vaughan

“Sometimes you have to look at players and ask if they are good enough at this level,” Vaughan told BBC Sport. “Dom Sibley doesn’t offer a great deal – he can’t give you that counterpunch. Dan Lawrence is young and may come back, but while he has that technique, when he first goes out there you hide behind the curtains. You’re not sure what he’s trying to achieve in the first 20 balls. They are two players that look a little bit out of their depth,” Vaughan added. 

Vaughan further went on to talk about the mental state of the English batters. He noted that they have had several collapses in the recent past, which is acting like baggage. The fact that none of the England batters had played first-class cricket in recent times was another thing that Vaughan noted. “You can say the England players haven’t been given enough first-class cricket leading up to this, but India didn’t either. We’re giving England too many excuses,” the former batter said.