5 reasons why England need to be concerned ahead of the Ashes

2. An eternal search for Cook’s opening partner

Cook has had 12 different opening partners since Strauss retired.

It’s been 5 years since Andrew Strauss retired and England still haven’t found a permanent and a solid opening partner for Alastair Cook. He’s had 12 different opening partners since Strauss retired and none of them have lasted long. Alex Hales has partnered Cook the most number of times (11) and has an average of 27.28 in Tests.

The likes of Root, Ali, Trott (now retired) have also been tried. Haseeb Hameed looked a very good prospect after he made a good start against India, but injury and a poor show in this year's County season has him kept out.

Jennings, who had a dream debut in India, looked good for a long run, but his struggles in the recent home series against South Africa where he averaged a mere 15.87, led to him being dropped.

Mark Stoneman, who did well in county cricket scoring over 1000 runs for 5 consistent seasons became Cook’s 12th opening partner in the 1st test against West Indies. He did score a hard-worked fifty in the second innings when England were behind and that innings should inspire some confidence, but he needs to do a lot more in the Ashes (if selected) scoring big runs and giving England good starts.