‘Rory Burns doesn’t seem like a cricketer’ – Salman Butt on England openers’ dismal run in the Ashes

Veteran Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt sounded highly disappointed with the performances of England’s opening batters in the ongoing Ashes. The southpaw was highly critical of Rory Burns and said that the latter looks far from being a cricketer mostly due to his batting technique.

Burns scored 51 runs in the first two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide at an average of 12.75 after which he was dropped from the playing eleven. Zak Crawley and Haseeb Hameed have been opening the batting since the Boxing Day Test that England lost by an innings and 14 runs.

What has happened to them? Salman Butt  

“Some of England openers’ pre-ready positions are such, they don’t look like players. Rory Burns doesn’t seem like a cricketer. I have nothing personal against him but the bat in his hand seems like it’s for some other use. Dom Sibley was similar. How can a country that gave us the game ignore Test cricket so much? What has happened to them?” Butt said on his YouTube channel.

Butt, who last played for Pakistan a decade ago, also reckoned that Hameed hasn’t been employing the apt technique while facing fast bowlers. Hameed has played all four Tests thus far and has scored 71 runs at an average of 10.14 with a top score of 27.

Butt mentioned that Hameed gets hurried against genuine pace and doesn’t seem to have enough experience of facing quality fast bowling. Moreover, he questioned the lack of quality speedsters in England’s domestic circuit.

“Haseeb Hameed seems late on the ball. He doesn’t seem to have time against fast bowlers. It looks like he hasn’t had any exposure to genuine pace. How many genuine pacers are there in county cricket? I don’t know what he has done.

“Till the time he is out in the middle, he seems to have no stroke. The basic element missing in his batting is time. He doesn’t seem to have any. Hameed needs to practice and get into that zone of facing quick deliveries,” he added.

Amidst their batting woes, England are currently trailing the five-match Test series 0-3 after heavy losses in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne.