NASSER HUSSAIN: Opener Dom Sibley's technique tinkering has paid off

NASSER HUSSAIN: England opener Dom Sibley’s technique tinkering has paid off after he cashed in with a patient 87 on the first day against India – his approach has not been seen since Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss

• England opening batsman Dom Sibley began his England career successfully
• He struggled with his technique facing spinners on occasion against Sri Lanka
• But he has made several tweaks and you can see it has already paid off for him
• His stoical 87 was a throwback to the innings played by the likes of Alastair Cook

The thing that impresses me most about Dom Sibley is his willingness to learn, and he is integral to the old-fashioned Test match batting style this England team have implemented under Chris Silverwood.

Sibley offers the kind of approach to opening the batting that the Test side have not seen since Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss.

I really admire the route England have chosen in selecting players such as Sibley who occupy the crease and look to build innings.

England opening batsman Dom Sibley has made several successful tweaks to his technique

Sibley (right) hit a patient, stoic 286-ball 87 as part of a crucial partnership with Joe Root (left)

Sessions like Friday’s first one, when the batsmen were required to be patient, can be difficult viewing.

But laying the foundation and playing watchfully allowed for more expansive periods later in the innings as the bowlers became tired and Virat Kohli had to move away from bowling his trump cards Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin.

And this is the area in which Sibley has got better. He has looked at some aspects of his game that have been viewed as weaknesses and shown desire to improve them.

Because he’s had a successful England career so far, he could have said, “That’s my method, I am not changing it”, when he experienced three difficult innings in Sri Lanka. 

After struggling at points against spin in Sri Lanka, he showed a wider variety of his strokeplay

But he acknowledged after hitting a 50 in Galle that he had been forced to adapt and now he and the team are seeing the benefits.

Lasith Embuldeniya, the left-arm spinner, was giving Sibley problems because he tended to come across the ball and defend to mid-on. 

It triggered a change in his technique for the fourth innings of that series and it was very noticeable here that he has started to defend more to mid-off and extra cover.

Similarly, last summer there were times when Sibley got stuck against West Indies and Pakistan because he didn’t have any release shots to keep the scoreboard moving. 

India captain Virat Kohli (right) was forced to eventually turn away from his frontline bowlers

On Friday, he showed several — a couple of variations of the sweep, a willingness to come down the pitch to clip through midwicket and opening the face of the bat to hit through the offside.

Some of it he has learned from his captain and, let’s face it, Joe Root has given everyone a masterclass in how to play spin this past month. And I am sure Sibley’s footwork has become sharper from watching on intently from the other end.

He’s no longer getting caught in that batting no-man’s land. He is either fully forward smothering the ball, or rocking back to cut or punch through the offside.

Root is a great example to Sibley, proof that whether you’ve played 10 Test matches or 100 the best international players are constantly looking at areas for improvement.

England saw off pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah and cashed in against less experienced bowlers

One day into this series, Sibley has shown me he is someone who has a big future in an England shirt and the way he played Ashwin was very smart.

It is something that Rory Burns — who, considering it was his first innings for several months, lined the ball up beautifully before having a brain fade — can learn from.

Ashwin is a bowler you should ‘sit on’ when the ball is not turning. You don’t need to get the big reverse sweep out against him.

It’s different if the ball is spinning all over the place and it appears only a matter of time until you get out, because playing aggressively in response can put a bowler off his length.

You have to make the most of things when the odds are stacked against you. 

But the odds were stacked in favour of England’s batsmen on a belter of a pitch with nothing in it for the off-spinner, and the best course of action in the circumstances was the one Sibley took: not to give his opponent a sniff.

He didn’t try to sweep Ashwin, a difficult stroke to play against him at the best of times because of the over spin and bounce he generates. 

He simply waited for India’s less experienced bowlers, Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar, to come on, happy to attack them with sweeps and use of his feet. 

You cannot be passive against all five bowlers because the innings goes nowhere. But Sibley’s tactical judgment of when and against whom to take risks was an example of how he has taken his game on to another level this winter.

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