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Opinion
After Andrew Strauss retired from international cricket, England’s cricket team were on a mission to find his replacement to partner Alastair Cook at the top of the order.
Now we are in 2020, Cook has retired from the game, and England has not been able to find a replacement even for the former.
They tried to cash in Jason Roy’s golden run at the World Cup by opening with him at the Ashes. We all saw what happened on the last day of the first Ashes Test last year.
Australia has never found a capable partner for David Warner ever since Chris Rogers retired. After trying to find a partner for Murali Vijay, India has now replaced even him. Dean Elgar has also not found a consistent opening partner.
Opening in Test matches has always been a tough job, but until recently it has become the most difficult nut to crack in Test match cricket. In the last five years, while openers have made merry in white-ball cricket, opening in Test matches has become tougher and tougher.
We had players like Justin Langer, Virender Sehwag, Graeme Smith, Alastair Cook, Matthew Hayden and Stephen Fleming. They were not only great opening batsmen but some of the best batsmen of all time. These players defined opening in Test matches.
Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden. (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
So what exactly has happened that the next generation is failing to grasp the art of opening in Test matches?
Approach at the start of the innings
There is one saying that we hear commentators say time and again but predominantly in limited-overs cricket: “They all count, doesn’t matter how they come”.
Well, it does in Test matches. An edge to the third-man fence may play a role in kick-starting an innings in white-ball cricket, but in red-ball cricket, it won’t go past the slip cordon. Hence a batsman needs to adapt significantly his approach at the start of the innings. This is also a reason why there has been a rise in a boom-or-bust innings in Test matches.
If a batsman is able to negate the initial few overs, he has a high chance of scoring a big one, but more often than not it will be bust.
Quality of batsmanship
Jason Roy, Brendon McCullum and Glenn Maxwell are all examples of the modern batsman. They have quick hands and immaculate hand-eye coordination resulting in audacious stroke-making.
While the new-age batsman travels the world plying his trade in different T20 leagues, the orthodox and technically correct batsman has reduced in number. This has led to a significant decrease in the quality of batsmanship – a problem magnified under the lens of Test matches.
Things like the gap between bat and pad, foot work, knowing your off stump – which are still very relevant in Test matches – have reduced in importance in limited-overs cricket. Opening in Test matches seems to have copped the biggest brunt of this shift.
(Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
The need to save Test cricket
With the advent of T20 cricket, there have been constant cries from various corners to save Test cricket. The reasons given were that viewership is decreasing and players are giving less importance to Test match cricket.
The conclusion was to make Test matches more interesting. No one wants to see a boring draw. This, in some cases, led to extra spiced-up pitches, especially in a country with friendly seam-bowling conditions. The combination of these made opening batsmen sitting ducks.
Playing James Anderson is a challenge in itself. Add to it an extra green top, and the complexity of the task becomes harder. Some experts have said that throwing the bat around may not be the worst thing on these pitches. So much for patience and grit.
Even India has stopped producing dust bowls and is not afraid to dish out green tops. In the last India-South Africa series, they were playing three fast bowlers at home. This is something I thought I would never see.
Three-day Test matches has become more and more normal. They have become some weird combination of two elongated limited-overs games.
Again, who has been the most affected? Openers.
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