England's top order cliche leaves Stoneman and Vince in danger

SAM MORSHEAD: There's been a familiar feel to many of the tourists' innings in Australia

Cricket already boasts quite a collection of cliches, lovingly curated over generations.

We are brought up on the notions that “catches win matches”, one should bowl in the “corridor of uncertainty” and it’s a cardinal sin to “run on a misfield”.

“If it seams, it spins,” says Shane Warne. “This particular session/hour/over is crucial,” says every pundit in the game. Reliable slippers have “a great pair of hands”. Insert any Ravi Shastri quote here.

All West Indians graduated from the calypso school of cricket, Pakistan are the wildcards of the international game regardless of the tournament and absolutely everyone is taking one over at a time.

So, yes, there is already an abundance of riches, if riches is the right word, but there’s always room for at least one more and, as it happens, we now have another for the list. The current England top order.

The tourists’ batting has followed a familiar pattern throughout this Ashes series and in Sydney the trend continued.

First it was Mark Stoneman: a fast start, a shot a ball, plenty of promise and then an abrupt dismissal to a short delivery.

Next, James Vince: sumptuous cover drives, an aura of confident determination and then an abject swipe and a nick behind.

Soon after, Alastair Cook: a belligerent beginning giving way to an uncharacteristically tired-looking stroke and then an early walk back to the pavilion.

Then Joe Root failed to turn his fourth half-century of the tour into a ton. England completed the set.

A very familiar sight indeed.

For Cook the repercussions will be minimal but for his team-mates the situation is somewhat different.

Stoneman and Vince were tiptoeing on a precipice going into the fifth Test at the SCG on Thursday. Now they’re off balance and reaching for the grappling hooks.

Stoneman is expected to get a stay of execution for the upcoming tour of New Zealand, mainly thanks to the relative paucity of options waiting to take his place.

That’s a stroke of luck for the Surrey man, whose 232 runs at 29 apiece look remarkably similar to the 281 at 28.10 which ended Michael Carberry’s international career on England’s last trip Down Under four years ago.

Failures in the two Tests in New Zealand in March and April and the selectors could well start afresh in the English summer.

Vince’s outlook must surely be even bleaker, with the likes of Liam Livingstone, Dan Lawrence and Joe Clarke queuing up for a taste of the Test arena

When England’s number three has got himself in - and truly ‘getting in’ means more than a brisk 20 or 30 - the Australians have had to get him out.

In Brisbane, it was that dynamic piece of fielding from Nathan Lyon. In Perth, a freak delivery from Mitchell Starc that struck a ravine in the WACA strip and turned into a 90mph leg-break.

On every other occasion, the Hampshire batsman did Australia’s work for them, to a point where his innings have become borderline predictable (The Cricketer’s social media feed proving as much with a touch of the commentator’s curse just before his dismissal on Thursday).

Given how frustrating it is for us mere onlookers to watch Vince flip from swashbuckling swordsmen to careless swatter in a matter of overs, how excruciating must it be for the England selectors and the player himself.

For periods of 10 and 20 overs here and there, the 26-year-old has seemed totally unruffled at Test level - that flourishing off-drive as good as any you’ll see in the international arena currently and a mass of dot balls faced going to suggest that he does in fact have the temperament required at this level.

Yet, for all his promise, Vince’s career average is still limping along below 23. The growing dissent among England watchers to his continued occupancy of the number three berth is understandable.

Barring a massive second-innings return in Sydney, it’s highly likely Vince will find himself out of the squad.

And all the while England battle on, trying to rid themselves of this unwanted cliche.