YOUNG WRITER: A cack-handed conundrum for England's other opener

OSCAR RATCLIFFE: Of the batsman to have partnered Cook since Strauss’ retirement in 2012, those who are left-handed have averaged more than five runs less than those who favour their right.

Variety. It is this simple quality which, to the enthusiast, sets cricket apart from other sporting fayre. A game which has brought successes as diverse as Jonathan Trott and Chris Gayle clearly has a thing or two to teach us all about skinning cats.

And so, it was variety which led Ed Smith to name Jos Buttler, a specialist batsman with ‘unique gifts’, as England’s No.7 for the First Test against Pakistan at Lord's – a novel approach to a batting slot which has traditionally been the preserve of allrounders. No doubt, Smith’s penchant to make this type of ambitious decision is why it was he to whom the ECB entrusted turning England’s Test fortunes around.

With variety in mind, it is interesting that Smith resolved to give Mark Stoneman, a left-hander, one more chance to partner the similarly sinistral Alastair Cook at the top of the order.

The idea that England should base any selection decisions on a variety of handedness between opening batsmen may seem facile. After all, Cook and Andrew Strauss were an extremely successful opening partnership taking England to the top of the Test Rankings.

Not only did the former skippers bat with the same hand but they also had very similar scoring areas, both favouring a crashing cut and an apologetic nudge off the pads. However, Strauss's southpaw brethren have failed dismally to follow in his footsteps partnering England’s all-time leading run scorer.

In fact, of the batsman to have partnered Cook since Strauss's retirement in 2012, those who are left-handed have averaged more than five runs less than those who favour their right.

A depressingly striking element of these statistics is just how badly England have struggled to find a solution to their top order travails for what has now been, lest we forget, almost six years. It is worth noting that, of those left-handers to have opened the batting with Cook in this period, Stoneman’s record puts him at the summit of an admittedly woeful field.

His Test average of 30.2 is two runs higher than that of the unfortunate Michael Carberry (his nearest competitor with an average 28.1 since 2012) and more than five runs higher than that of Keaton Jennings (a batsman who made a compelling case for inclusion following a brace of well-timed County Championship centuries).

Furthermore, Stoneman, unlike Strauss, bats in a style distinct from Cook. He is the owner of a purring cover drive, the kind which only left-handers play; a shot that the Essex batsman, for all his qualities, has rarely been able to execute with the grace his handedness demands. However, when it comes to the weaknesses of England’s anointed opening pair, variety is less forthcoming.

Alastair Cook’s kryptonite is well-known among bowlers. A full ball just outside off stump has been known to render a batsman with superhuman powers of concentration as useless as a Hashim Amla off break (something which is well-worth a watch on YouTube).

Cook’s technical problem is further compounded by the fact that his tendency to nick off is a fault he shares with Stoneman and has shared with many of the other left-handers who have partnered him. Opening bowlers, accordingly, can settle into monotonously bowling the same ball to both openers, knowing its effectiveness, without their line being disrupted by a change of stance. An inevitable by-product of this is fewer bad balls – Cook’s bread and butter.

Beyond the inherent dangers of the new ball there is no clear rationale behind this mutual weakness. What is irrefutable is that England’s first wicket pair, regardless of personae, have become predictable. Renewal is long-overdue at the top of the order and the selection of a young right-handed opener would be an enterprising move to kickstart this process.

The problem is that the cupboard is seemingly bare when it comes to right-handers in county cricket. All viable candidates have either been tried before (Sam Robson) are in poor form (Daniel Bell-Drummond) or both (Haseeb Hameed). 

Ed Smith’s brief was to make the type of bold selections which, in the past, led to the likes of Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick being given Test debuts: decisions based on suspected talent rather than unremarkable county records.

A truly audacious approach would be to allow Cook to end his career at three and open with the highly thought of, dextral Bell-Drummond and the Strauss-like Nick Gubbins.

Now, as selections go, are these really so gauche?