'Even club players think they can score more than them': Boycott lashes out at England openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley

Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott pinpointed the problems in the techniques of England openers Dom Sibley and Rory Burns. According to his observation, Sibley ‘cannot rotate strike’ while Burns is struggling with picking the length of a delivery.

England openers Dom Sibley and Rory Burns had a terrible outing against India in the first Test against India at Trent Bridge, that ended in a draw largely due to rain interruptions. The duo couldn’t produce good starts in both innings which led the Indian bowlers to dominate the hosts' batting line-up. Burns bagged a duck in the first innings and scored 18 off 49 deliveries in the second. On the other hand, Sibley scored 18 and 28 in both innings respectively.

File image of Geoffrey Boycott. (Getty Images)

Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott, in his latest column for The Telegraph, pinpointed the problems in the techniques of both batsmen. According to his observation, Sibley ‘cannot rotate strike’ while Burns is struggling with picking the length of a delivery.

“Not just former Test players but even club players look at Rory Burns and Dom Sibley and think they can do better.

“Sibley is the opposite of Crawley. He has stickability but his lack of strokes hurts him. He cannot rotate the strike, so if he cannot move his score along, and the team’s score, then he creates enormous pressure on himself,” Boycott wrote.

“Burns is like Sibley. First innings he lasted five balls. It was a repeat of previous dismissals. He started his front foot forward on the wrong side of the ball and then realised he had picked the wrong length,” he added.

Boycott also wrote about star English cricketer Jos Buttler whose batting was below par in the first Test, scoring 0 and 17 in both innings.

“Jos Buttler is a sad tale. In the first innings he got nought off 18 balls and could have been out about seven times. His footwork and judgement were non-existent, but it is not surprising because he has not played any four-day matches.

“Many of our batsmen don't get enough preparation before Tests with proper county cricket.

“I don't think our administrators understand how difficult it can be to transfer the mental approach and way of batting from trying to hit every ball to the different tempo and technique required for Test matches,” Boycott stated.