Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques has expressed his concern over England’s established middle order ahead of Ashes.
England have a lot of problems with their batting as only Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Ben Stokes seem to be in form while the other three to four spots are still up for grabs.
The selection committee is to meet on Wednesday and announce the squad for Ashes which will begin in late November. In the seven Tests they played recently, England tried a lot of options at No. 2, 3 and five but could not find a consistent performer.
Joe Root, Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow are more experienced players in the middle order, and Henriques believes that they could be dangerous in Ashes.
“I feel like they’ve got a really dangerous middle order,” Henriques told reporters on Tuesday (September 26).
“While you might see some weaknesses there other than Joe Root, guys like Ben Stokes have really started to step up over the last couple of years. He’s an absolute pleasure to watch bat when he’s at the top of his game, not when you’re playing against him but when he’s playing someone else. I think he’s a huge threat in their middle order especially if they get off to decent start he can just come in and change the game really quickly. Jonny Bairstow has improved his cricket a lot as well. They’ve got some really strong batters there that can do really well,” the Australian all-rounder added.
Despite having to try out many options in middle order, England still have a strong batting lineup boasting Cook, Root, Stokes and Bairstow. They are also likely to lineup Moeen Ali in the lower order.
Henriques, who played with Stoneman earlier believes the youngster got talent but hopes he does not fire in Ashes.
“I was lucky enough to play with Mark Stoneman who opened the batting who I don’t think we’ve seen best of yet at international level,” Henriques said. “I’m sure for Australia’s sake they’ll want to keep that the way it is.”