New Delhi: Former skipper Michael Vaughan lashed out at current England opening pair Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley after the dismal show in first two Tests against India. The Burns-Sibley pair has not worked for England so far against a quality India pace attack as the duo event departed for ducks in the second innings of Lord’s Test. The hosts lost the match by 151 runs are currently 0-1 down in the five-match series.
Sibley has scored just 57 runs in the first two Tests while Burns hit 67 runs including two ducks in the first two matches which put a lot of pressure on the middle-order to rescue the team.
Vaughan gave some valuable suggestions to make some changes in the playing XI of upcoming matches as he wants Haseeb Hameed to open the innings and Dawid Malan to bat at number 3.
“I want a bit more substance and experience. I want to see Dawid Malan at three. England cannot keep going with the Rory Burns-Dom Sibley opening partnership after 10 ducks this year. It is the definition of insanity. It just does not work,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
“In total, 37 per cent of their partnerships this year have not gone past the second over. That is staggering. You can’t carry on with that and England know it. I would give Hameed his rightful spot to open and throw in Malan. England now need a little bit of substance. They have three games against India then straight into an Ashes series,” he added.
India have completely dominated the English team in the ongoing series with the hosts missing some of their big players including Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad (ruled out of series after 1st Test).
Vaughan feels it is going to be very tough for England to bounce back in the series without Stokes as the responsibility will be once again on skipper Joe Root’s shoulders.
“It is going to be so hard to recover without Stokes. They had one of the greats to get them out of a hole in the last Ashes Test at Headingley. They were bowled out for 67 but Stokes played the greatest innings of all time. Now there are signs this series could get very messy for England,” Vaughan wrote.
“They have to find some spirit and belief. They have to hope someone turns up and does something like Stokes did two years ago. It will probably have to be Joe (Root) again,” he said.