Rory Burns will now be a part of Ashes history, but not in a way he would have liked. Mitchell Starc dismissing him on the first ball of an Ashes series added to the number of ducks scored by the opener in this calendar year. Burns has six ducks in 2021, two of which are golden ducks. The opener still has a decent average of nearly 30. In this piece, we look at the stats of Burns and analyze his place in the England team.
In his international Test career, Burns has eight ducks. Six of them have come this year, which has made it a talking point in the cricket community. Eight ducks in 54 innings are equivalent to a duck every seventh inning. Among current international players, Moen Ali has 15 ducks in 111 innings, averaging one every 7.4 innings.
2021 performance by England batters
Burns has the second-best average, even after six innings with zero contribution. His average of 29.93 is second only to Joe Root, who is in the form of his life. Other than these two, no other batter has scored more than 400 runs for England. Zak Crawley, who also opened for England in a few matches, averages 11 this year. It can be said that the entire English batting lineup has struggled. Burns has contributed well despite those six ducks. The average for Test openers in international cricket for 2021 has been 34.6. Burns averaging close to 30 in English conditions isn’t too great, but he cannot be considered as a failure either.
England’s opening slot since 2018
England have been on the lookout for a regular opener for a decade. The search was for one opener after the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012, but since Sir Alastair Cook’s retirement in 2018, they’ve been looking for two good openers. The team has tried 10 players as openers, but only two players received a long run (more than 20 innings). Zak Crawley has played 13 innings as an opener; no other player got more than 10 innings at that spot.
Burns has been England’s third-highest run-scorer, behind Root and Ben Stokes. He is also third in terms of innings per fifty-plus score (3.8), again behind Root (3.6) and Stokes (3.4).
Good performances
In the 2019-20 away series against New Zealand, Burns scored 184 runs, including a half-century and a century in three innings. He was the second-highest run-scorer for England. Burns carried his form into the next series against South Africa. Scoring 84 runs in the second innings of the first Test, Burns looked good for a big series before getting injured during the warm-ups.
Burns has struggled in conditions favoring spin bowling and has a poor record in India and Sri Lanka. An average of 61 in New Zealand and 46.5 in South Africa is one of the major reasons the England management have been able to show confidence in the batter who has a very different technique.
Innings wise stats
All of Burns’ three centuries have come in the second innings of the Test, which shows that he takes time to understand the pitch and conditions and plans his batting in the second innings accordingly. Day 2 and 3 are generally considered as best days to bat in a Test, and Burns has capitalized on those days.
Opening the batting is considered to be one of the most challenging things in cricket. The new ball usually favors the bowlers, and as an opener, you are against a fresh attack, unlike the rest of the batting order. One can apply themselves for as long as possible, but one good ball or a poor shot can end their innings. Burns has done well in terms of being an opener in English conditions. His away numbers are also fine, apart from his subcontinental stats. With a lack of options and him being the third-highest run-scorer in the last three years, England will look to continue with Rory Burns and will hope he gets going as soon as possible.