Promoting Lawrence to open is a reckless punt that could end Test career

Opening the batting in a Test match is reckoned to be one of hardest jobs in cricket. It is a test both of mental resilience and technical excellence. An opener is expected to take a measure of the conditions and lay the ground for the batsmen to come, all the while withstanding everything that the opposition bowlers, armed with a new ball and very much up for it, can throw their way.
It is surprising therefore how often teams hand the task to someone with little experience in the role and hope, fingers firmly crossed, that they thrive. This might be an especially difficult task in England, where the new ball tends to do more, for longer.
Step forward then Dan Lawrence, the man chosen by England to keep the seat warm at the top of the order for the injured Zak Crawley. Speaking after the squad for the Sri Lanka series was announced with Lawrence named as Ben Duckett’s opening partner, Ben Stokes made no bones about why he had got the job — Crawley would return as soon as he was fit and Lawrence had been the spare batter in the squad for a long time, so deserved a chance, “albeit obviously that he’s a middle-order batter”.
It appeared England made no serious attempt to find the best qualified specialist opener available. Admittedly those who might seriously interest them are in short supply but Keaton Jennings could reasonably be aggrieved for not receiving close consideration. Jennings, the maker of two Test hundreds, was himself a spare batsman under Stokes in Pakistan in 2022, and is still waiting for a recall.
Lawrence, of course, was happy to take whatever chance came his way. “If that meant batting No 8, 9, 10 or 11, I’d have taken it,” he said before the first Test at Old Trafford.
The bottom line, though, is that Lawrence, 27, has been playing first-class cricket for nine years and since opening the batting in three championship matches in his debut season had done so only twice since before his promotion this month by England — and that in a career spanning 203 innings.
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He managed two thirty-somethings in Manchester without quite looking at ease, while here at Lord’s he fell in odd fashion, walking out to meet a ball of width only to be beaten by some away movement and caught behind. It was certainly not the shot of a seasoned opener.
Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum have a penchant for pushing square pegs into round holes — giving the new ball to people who don’t open the bowling for their counties, or giving the gauntlets to those playing purely as batsmen — but this does seem a tad reckless for men who vowed to refine their approach after the tour of India.
England are not alone of course. Australia recently promoted Steve Smith to open following the retirement of David Warner despite Smith having spent more than 100 Tests batting in the middle order. He has so far managed one fifty in eight innings and it will be interesting to see how long they persist with the experiment.
The danger for Lawrence is that if he plays these three Tests against Sri Lanka and does not do anything of note, England may decide to move on and look at someone new such as Jordan Cox, who is four years younger. England will need a reserve batsman in Pakistan for their Tests there in October and Cox might pip Lawrence for the spot unless Lawrence finds a score in his next three innings.
England careers have been ended before by a spell at the top, notably Jonathan Trott in the West Indies in 2015 when he was recalled for the first time since his early departure home from an Ashes tour 18 months earlier after a long run as one of the most successful No 3 batsmen England have ever had. The comeback was not a success: Trott only got out of double-figures once in six innings and afterwards announced his retirement from the international game.
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Other middle-order England batsmen who were briefly pressed into service as openers include Moeen Ali in a series against Pakistan in the UAE and Mark Ramprakash towards the end of an unfulfilled career as a Test batsman. Neither went well. Going further back, Robin Smith and Derek Randall had similarly short stints as openers, but against the odds both managed to make a hundred, Smith in the heat of Colombo and Randall against a Pakistan attack led by Imran Khan.
One of England’s most optimistic punts in this regard was trying to turn Jason Roy, a specialist white-ball opener, into a Test opener against an Australia pace attack containing Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. The gamble lasted three games before Roy was moved down to No 5 and then out of the side altogether.
Even an early career as an opener in county cricket is no guarantee that batting at the top will suit someone’s game at the highest level. In his first year as a Test cricketer, Joe Root opened in a home series against Australia but only twice got past 30 (admittedly going onto make 180 on one occasion).
Shane Warne predicted of Root that Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson “could be crucifying him” when the sides met again a few months later, but England decided against Root continuing at the top. He dropped into the middle order where he has stayed ever since, establishing himself as one of England’s finest run-scorers.