Move over, the dozen, England’s new Jai and Veeru are here to stay

No one, in the history of cricket, has made more runs opening the batting than Sir Alastair Cook, no one probably characterised the two sides of opening batting in England more than the Essex man but the Cook peak that came quite aplenty also summarized the English opening problems in general. Since Sir Andrew Strauss bid adieu to the sport in 2012, as many as 12 players partnered him, for little to no success. Can you name them all?

Now come to think of it again. How come the English side that failed to make up for one spot with an all-time great at the other end has managed to deliver what the doctor ordered and then some more with two traditional and orthodox batsmen who can be set for a long haul. I am not even speaking of the Kent pair of Joe Denly and Zak Crawley.

Neil was quick to point out that Burns' hands would flap out wide with his bat going from gully to first slip, resulting in playing more across the line than usual, thus disturbing his feet alignment. He worked in getting that corrected in only one day he had before joining the Ashes party in Birmingham. That small change resulted in Burns batting freely and driving Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, and Peter Siddle easily on his way to a solid century on his Ashes debut. Is that what we call brash Chutzpah?

The value system that Neil imbibed on him has been a revelation since then as he became the first England opener to score 1000 runs after Alastair Cook during the course of his first-innings 30 against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl. Not caring about the aesthetic value, Burns has set up the stone plate to cross when others approach him with any sincerity. To put the matter in the context, the left-hander’s average of 33.63 to his recent predecessors is better than everyone but Joe Root, who opened the innings in mere six innings. 

Mind you, his technique was largely questioned last year against New Zealand when he failed massively on flat decks. But all voices were put to rest when the Warwickshire opener, who was called up to the English side on the back of 1324 Division One Championship runs in 2019 that included five centuries, five half-centuries and an average of 69.68, scored massively in South Africa, averaging more than 50. His maiden century in Cape Town also helped the visiting side to a series win. 

In Southampton, both Burns and Sibley brought those values to the field during a 72-run partnership that lasted as many as 36.2 overs. As a matter of fact, this was the second-best opening partnership for England at home since the dawn of 2015 and let no one fool you, Windies had one of the best bowling attacks in the world. Even though wickets didn’t come in clusters, it was still one of the better bowling performances up front, but one that was defied uniquely by two childhood friends.

Their partnership was more like a tribute to the throwback when Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton would stand rock solid and obdurate the bowling attack in some of the world’s finest cricket stadiums. Dominic Sibley and Rory Burns are on the right track to be a couple for ages. They may not be as effective as Cook, but as far as the tag-team effort goes, they are possibly the perfect Jai and Veeru to kill the demons of Gabbar. We can finally move over the dozen.