England openers: The numbers behind the top-order partnerships

The last five years

Duckett is the 12th opening batsman used by England in 56 Tests since Cook’s departure, with only five of those even averaging over 30.

His average is almost 10 runs clear of the field, though second is regular tail-ender Jack Leach whose 46.50 comes from scores of 92 and one in two innings as a nightwatchman. Captain Ben Stokes has no average as an opener, having scored 78 not out from 57 balls in his only innings.

Keaton Jennings, Joe Denly and Rory Burns average narrowly over 30 while Crawley is at 25.19, which also ranks him behind Dom Sibley. His strike rate of 57.90, while pedestrian by England’s new standard, ranks third in that time and rises to 83.47 in innings partnering Duckett.

Haseeb Hameed limped to an average of 19.18 and a strike rate of 30.80, Alex Lees was not much better at 23.84 and 43.06, Jason Roy made only 62 runs in seven innings and Jos Buttler was promoted once as a pinch-hitter but failed to score.

In terms of England openers, the only other post-Cook pairings to average even 30 are Burns’ partnerships with Hameed (39.14) and Crawley (35.00).

Long-term trend

The issue has existed even since the departure of Cook’s predecessor as captain, Sir Andrew Strauss, back in August 2012.

Cook averaged 42.52 from 144 innings in that time but only three other England openers hit the 40 mark.

Encouragingly, one of those is Duckett with 46.15 for his full 14 innings as an international opener. His strike rate across that whole period sits at 89.55.

Joe Root spent 11 innings at the top of the order and while his average of 41.70 was more than creditable, it was well down on his overall Test average of 50.22. Leach is the third name on the list, in the two aforementioned innings.