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Since 100-Test opener Andrew Strauss retired seven years ago England have churned through an extraordinary number of opening batsmen.
Then last year champion opener Alastair Cook retired and things got even grimmer for England.
Rory Burns, Joe Denly and Jason Roy are the latest batsmen in contention to open in the first Ashes Test. So what do we know about these three batsmen?
Rory Burns – 312 runs at 22 from seven Tests
Many international batsmen use a cocked-wrist stance where, as the bowler enters his stride, their bat is lifted high in the air, waiting to complete a single, downward movement towards the ball.
The likes of Steve Smith and Jonny Bairstow will showcase such a style in this Ashes.
Yet I’ve never seen this stance replicated in the odd manner of England opener Rory Burns. His bat starts pointed almost directly up at the sky, on an angle in line with the wicketkeeper.
Then as the bowler comes level with the umpire Burns lowers his blade slightly, only to raise it once more this time on a more extreme angle, pointing towards first slip.
To further complicate matters he again lowers the bat slightly, and pulls it back towards himself so that it’s now angling towards fine leg.
From keeper to first slip to fine leg – that’s a lot of shifting to do before you’ve even begun your downswing. This process is not always the same either. Sometimes Burns skips step two. At other times he starts at step two and ends on step three.
As a result Burns’ bat swing has no consistency, with its arc towards the ball regularly changing, even to two identical deliveries.
This quirky technique tends to make him look vulnerable, even when he middles the ball. Of course, looks can be deceiving.
Some players are a joy aesthetically but flatter to deceive. Australia’s Shaun Marsh and England’s James Vince are prime examples of players who regularly fail while looking lovely.
Burns, by comparison, regularly succeeds while looking shaky. At county level, at least, where in the past five seasons he’s piled up 5,390 runs at 47, including 10 tons.
At Test level it’s been rough for the idiosyncratic batsman. After seven Tests he is averaging just 22 with the bat. In his last 10 Test knocks he’s reached 20 only twice.
Similar to Cook, Burns is very strong square of the wicket on the offside but is not much of a threat on the front foot. He appears at ease against back-of-a-length bowlers but is vulnerable when drawn forward.
So vulnerable that there’s no guarantee he will play in the first Test. There has been talk in the English media of Burns being dropped, with Denly moving up to open with Roy.
That could hinge on captain Joe Root’s willingness to finally move from four to first drop, a position England coach Trevor Bayliss reportedly has asked Root to occupy for a long while now. Time will reveal.
Joe Denly
Denly has had a slightly odd Test career to date. While he is in contention to open the batting in the Ashes, it was his handy leg breaks which helped earn him a belated Test debut in the Caribbean in January at the age of 33.
Despite being a solid batsman for years in county cricket, Denly’s Test opportunity didn’t arrive until he started offering value with the ball.
After taking just 38 first-class wickets in his first 14 seasons of county cricket, last season Denly’s leggies blossomed, earning him 23 wickets at 18 for Kent.
A few months later he won his first Test cap against the West Indies, with the English media reporting that his leggies were seen as a useful back-up for frontline spinner Moeen Ali.
England’s Joe Denly (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
As it turned out, Denly was barely needed with the ball. Across three Tests to date he has sent down only four overs.
That is understandable given England already had a very strong fifth bowling option in all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Having batted just six times for England, Denly’s Test prospects are difficult to gauge.
He is certainly a more dynamic batsman than the grafting Burns. Whereas Burns mainly bats for time and waits for bowlers to offer him something to slice through point or gully, Denly is more proactive. In particular, he is much stronger on the drive than his left-handed teammate.
He will enter this Ashes in fine form, having made 504 runs at 56 in county cricket Division One so far this season. Denly has been boom-or-bust, though, with knocks of 167*, 154 and 88 surrounded by a raft of failures – 0, 1, 4, 8, 10, 11, 20 and 22.
Jason Roy
Far less needs to be said about Roy, with whom Australian fans are very familiar, albeit via the white ball formats.
It is his stunning limited overs form which earned him a Test debut last week against Ireland.
That one Test summed up what I think we’re likely to see from Roy in this format. In the first innings he was caught at slip poking with hard hands at a delivery outside off stump.
Roy likes to feel bat on ball and has questionable patience, so this will be the main manner in which Australia look to dismiss him early in his innings.
In the second innings against Ireland, however, we saw the enormous talent and range of strokes possessed by Roy as he sprinted to 72 from 78 balls.
I expect England will give him free rein to attack the Australian bowlers from the get go in the Ashes. He drives powerfully, pulls with venom and punishes width outside off. The battle between Roy and the gun Australian quicks will be riveting.