South Africa v England: Why can't England find an opening batsman?

[jersey-xy]

http://www.officialramsnflproshop.com/AUTHENTIC+AARON+DONALD+JERSEY England is a nation of opening batsmen.
Nine of the 25 most prolific openers in Test cricket history are English - more than any other nation.
Six of those nine were fixtures in the side, so much so that in the 51 years since Geoffrey Boycott made his debut in 1964, at least one of Boycott, Graham Gooch, Mike Atherton, Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss or Alastair Cook has opened in 79% (442) of England's 561 Tests.

But that lineage appears, for now at least, to be in danger of dying out with Cook.

Since Strauss retired in 2012, Cook has gone through seven different partners, with Alex Hales set to become the eighth in the first Test against South Africa starting on 26 December.

Chris Conley Elite Jersey How have England, the home of technically correct, gritty, sell-your-grandma-before-you-sell-your-wicket openers - raised against the moving ball on pitches greener than a snooker table - found themselves in such a state of flux at the top of the order?
Cook's seven partners in the post-Strauss era have been Nick Compton, Joe Root, Michael Carberry, Sam Robson, Jonathan Trott, Adam Lyth and Moeen Ali.

They could be divided broadly into four categories: the disastrous experiments (Trott and Moeen), the mistakenly promoted (Root), the faded early promise (Robson and Lyth) and the arguably hard-done-by (Compton and Carberry).

The nine matches given to Compton are the most any of Strauss' successors have managed at the top of England's order. Is that really long enough to feel at home opening the batting in Test cricket?

Bjoern Werner Black Jersey "It takes a while for the person to get used to that role," said former England captain Alec Stewart, who would have been higher than 11th on the list of run-scorers among English openers had he not been given the wicketkeeping gloves for 82 of his 133 Tests.

"It needs the selectors to be brave enough to stick with the person who they think is the answer. If you're always searching after four or five games, you will always be looking."

The statistics also suggest that England have been too eager to hit the eject button.

In the period between Strauss retiring and 30 November this year, England's average opening partnership was 35.42, better than all but Australia, India and Bangladesh.

It is also only five runs fewer than Cook and Strauss - opening partners when England rose to the top of the world rankings - averaged together.

http://www.lionsshopnfl.com/Authentic-Lance-Moore-Jersey "You could say the selectors have bought it upon themselves," added Stewart.

"If you are leaving people out after just a handful of games, the selectors are saying they have made an error in who they selected.