Simon Katich Explains Problem With England Openers In Ashes So Far

Former Australian opener Simon Katich explained how the England openers are failing to make a significant contribution in the ongoing Ashes series. The opening combination of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed failed miserably as the duo failed to get England off to good starts.

in the third Test, Zak Crawley replaced Rory Burns, but the opening combination was still weak as they failed to score more than 23 runs together even once in the series so far. Katich feels the inexperience of the England openers, coupled with the world-class ability of the Australian pacers is what causing problems for England.

“Yesterday (Sunday) they were both very inexperienced, they’re both youngsters finding their feet at Test level, it’s not easy. “They’ve been exposed by a very good Australian attack, they’re coming up in conditions that they haven’t really experienced before, so that’s something that’s caused them issues,” Simon Katich told sen.com.au.

Simon Katich highlighted England’s inability to leave balls

Simon Katich also shed light on how impatient the England batsmen are when it comes to leaving the deliveries outside off stump. They try and play away from the body and thus end up struggling against the pace and bounce. Simon Katich feels the concentration of the England batsmen is disturbed and that is something they will need to fix as soon as they can.

“England’s (in)ability to leave a lot more balls. Particularly in a bouncy wicket because as soon as you start playing away from yourself in these conditions with the extra pace and bounce you get into trouble, that’s what we’ve seen throughout the series.

“They’ve (England cricketers) fed the slips and (wicketkeeper) Alex Carey… technically there’s some issues with their concentration and letting balls go around off stump,” Simon Katich concluded.

England have ended Day 2 on 31/4 in their second innings and are looking down the barrel of yet another comprehensive defeat.

Also Read: Ashes 2021-22: The Biggest Concern For England Was Mixture Of Poor Technique: Nasser Hussain