England openers Dom Sibley and Rory Burns slammed as playing 'comedy cricket'

England 's shocking capitulation on day five of the second Test against India at Lord's once again brought their top order struggles to the fore, with openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley both getting out for nought.

It was the first time that a pair of England openers had both been dismissed for ducks in a home Test innings.

Burns has now recorded five ducks in 2021, tying the record for the most in one calendar year with former England captain Michael Atherton and former India captain Pankaj Roy, while Sibley has recorded four.

Now, former England opener and coach David Lloyd has criticised the pair for playing "comedy cricket" and having "no intention of scoring".

Dom Sibley and Rory Burns have recorded nine ducks between them this year (Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Speaking to the MailOnline, Lloyd said: "Look at India's opening pair. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul stand correctly and even though they are facing England's greatest ever bowler in Anderson they find ways to defend and score.

"Our top three seem to have no intention of scoring — they are just on a massive blockathon! It's a broken record with Root always trying to get them out of an almighty scrape.

"In 57 years I have never seen an opening pair stand like Rory Burns and Dom Sibley do. Ever! It's comedy cricket and that is the biggest issue."

Former England opener and head coach David Lloyd has criticised Burns and Sibley for playing "comedy cricket" (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes a change needs to be made at the top of the order, stating that persisting with Burns and Sibley would be "the definition of insanity".

Writing in his column for the Telegraph, Vaughan said: "England cannot keep going with the Rory Burns-Dom Sibley opening partnership after 10 ducks this year.

"It is the definition of insanity. It just does not work. In total, 37 per cent of their partnerships this year have not gone past the second over.

"That is staggering. You can’t carry on with that and England know it."

Vaughan believes that Haseeb Hameed should be moved up to open and that Dawid Malan should return at number three.

"I would give Hameed his rightful spot to open and throw in Malan," he added. "England now need a little bit of substance.

There have been calls for Dawid Malan, who scored his only Test century at Perth during the 2017/18 Ashes series, to be picked at number three (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

"They have three games against India then straight into an Ashes series. I just don’t think they lose much if they put Malan at three.

"Zak Crawley might have found his rhythm by the time they get to Australia so could be a reserve No 3 but Malan plays pace well and has experience behind him.

"I’m just not sure Ollie Pope is a No 3 so he has to wait longer."