‘These England openers are a sorry sight’ – David Lloyd criticises Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed after poor Ashes run

England’s batting, particularly the openers, has been disappointing throughout the first two Ashes Tests. Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed had a partnership of 0 and 23 runs, respectively, in the first and the second innings in the first match. Despite the awful start, team management gave both of them another chance in the second Test, and Australian bowlers dismissed them both for a single-digit score.

The former England cricketer David Lloyd has criticized both Burns and Hameed. In his column for the Daily Mail, Lloyd went to say that England should go in the Boxing Day Test with a new opening pair. He was very particular about both the openers’ techniques and mentioned that they both don’t belong at this level.

He went on to say that the Australian bowlers didn’t have to do much to get the wickets of these two. Lloyd wrote:

“These England openers are a sorry sight. Both Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed are playing across the line. All the talk was about the pink ball under lights – well, it didn’t do anything. All the Aussie bowlers had to do was put it in the right place and the openers went across the line again. They are walking wickets I’m afraid.”

England should consider opening with Joe Root and Dawid Malan: David Lloyd

Lloyd believes England should have a new opening pair for the third Test. He feels the management can slot in Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley at the top. He added that England could even try to open with Joe Root and Dawid Malan as they repeatedly faced the new ball.

“I’d change both openers for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. England might as well open with Joe Root and Dawid Malan because they are repeatedly in so early anyway. Or how about going back to that plan of picking one of the one-day openers? Only England got the wrong one in Jason Roy when they tried it last time,” Lloyd wrote.

Australia made 473 runs before declaring the innings in the first innings. Marnus Labuschagne made a century after getting two lifelines. Steven Smith, David Warner, and Alex Carey made half-centuries. England lost two wickets for a score of 17 runs at the end of the second day.