Because we have no one else - the openers for a long time now have failed to make a sustained partnership - you can’t start putting bowlers in there as a fill in. We tried with Ali it was a disaster. There’s no confidence in Denly either.
It’s different with Australia normally as Warner is a 45 average cricketer.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think our openers are anywhere near up to standard. Burns has scored some runs to give him credit, and he is a proper test-style player but he strikes me as lucky with the amount of times his bat is beaten. I just don’t see what the need is to move Root from 4 when it’s plainly obvious that is hampering his batting abilities.
Well it’s also his captaining, but who do you burden with the captaincy? Broad? He’d only use reviews on his own bowling and they’d be gone within the first 5 overs. Stokes? Can’t be having his batting or his bowling affected by it. Beyond that, who else would you say is a senior player?
