'Ugly', 'Boring' Dominic Sibley Divide Opinions As He Becomes First England Opener After Alastair Cook To Score Consecutive Fifties

England batsman Dominic Sibley continues to divide opinions because of his batting technique and the results that he is getting from it. For the second innings in a row in the ongoing series against West Indies, the right-handed batsman crossed the 50-run mark.

And for the second innings in a row, he did that at a snail’s pace. After being dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the series-opener, Dominic Sibley scored 50 off 164 balls in the second innings. His knock, however, could not prevent a four-wicket loss for the hosts.

On Thursday, the right-handed batsman once again dug deep and scored a fifty to carry the hosts to 207 for 3 at stumps on day one of the second Test. He remained unbeaten on 86 off 253 balls, thus becoming the first opener from the country to score consecutive half-centuries since the legendary Alastair Cook.

Divided opinions:

Despite scoring consecutive fifties, Dominic Sibley is facing criticism from several quarters for the rate at which he scored and his unorthodox chest-on stance. But at the same time, he is also earning praise from some notable names. Legendary England batsman Geoffrey Boycott opined that he couldn’t care less how Dominic Sibley looks when he bats as long as he is doing his job.

“Everybody has to make runs in whatever is the best way for them,” Boycott wrote in The Telegraph . “You do not win Test matches by looking pretty.

“I am really pleased for Dom Sibley. It is about how many runs you make, not how many balls or how many boundaries. Runs are all that matters,” he added.

Former England captain Mike Atherton had a similar view, praising the 24-year-old for his single-minded approach to batting. Atherton, who too loved to grind out an innings, said it was an approach that should set him up for the long haul.

“In a battle of patience, which happens whenever seamers settle for a line outside off-stump, or when off-spinners bowl into the pads to a packed leg-side field, he is not likely to come off second best, which is a useful attribute to have in a five-day match,” he wrote for the Times.

On the other hand, The Telegraph’s chief cricket correspondent, Nick Hoult, wrote that the batsman had “an ugly stance” and “limited range of strokes”. He, however, said that Dominic Sibley is exactly what England needs.

“In Sibley they have an opening batsman who will never inspire crowds to rush to take their seats for ball one of the day and if there had been a crowd at the ground on Thursday most of them would have spent it in the beer tent and drifted away early, but his unbeaten 86 from 253 balls over the course of six hours was just what his team needed” Hoult wrote.

Also Read: BCCI And CAG Nominee At Loggerheads Over Jay Shah’s Eligibility As Apex Council Meet Today

Also Read: Jimmy Neesham Comes Up With Hilarious Tweet On Rain Playing Spoilsport in England