Speaking on Sky Sports Cricket, former England captain Nasser Hussain discussed Dom Sibley’s early forays into Test cricket, and where he needs to improve.
Sibley has enjoyed a solid start to his Test career, averaging 40.22 from his first six games, making his maiden century against South Africa at Cape Town in the second Test of the series between the sides in January. That knock came after the right-hander had failed to pass 30 in his first five Test innings, and Hussain praised his ability to succeed despite the criticism he received.
“He’s always trying to learn,” said Hussain. “He’s not afraid of what people are saying. After New Zealand, there was a lot of doubt about Dom Sibley. They said he was just a ‘Leg-side Lenny’ who got out to spin, outside off, etc. So he goes into that Test match at Cape Town after a couple of low scores in Centurion under a huge amount of pressure. ‘Is Sibley the answer?’
“And then he played brilliantly, got a hundred against really good attack, it was a great week at Newlands, and he played really well. He’s an unusual looking player. He does like the leg-side. But they bowled outside off to him and he opened up that off-side very well. He looked like he was someone that could play on both sides of the wicket, and someone who could bat time.”
However, Sibley failed to pass 50 for the rest of the series, and was caught on the leg-side each time. Hussain discussed how South Africa changed their plans against him.
“He then slowly got worked out,” Hussain said. “What South Africa did throughout that series, they went from outside off and he nicked off a couple of times outside off-stump, because they thought he was vulnerable out there. Just outside off about hip high, these are pretty good deliveries by the way, and he nicked them. But then they changed their plan after that, almost they started to bowl to his strengths. They put a leg-side field in with a short midwicket and a backward catching short square leg, and twice he hit it to those men in the air off his hip. And then they went even shorter, even more legside, and he gloved it down the legside.”
Sibley’s struggles continued in the intra-squad warm-up played by England, as he was strangled down the leg-side off Jofra Archer. Hussain said he felt it would be an avenue the West Indies would target, and touched on the technical reasons why Sibley has come up against the problem.
“Warm-up game, England against England, Archer went at him bowling at his hip,” he said. “If England think ‘that’s where we’re going to get this lad out’ you can imagine that’s what the West Indies are thinking. County cricket is about playing the ball below your waist where there’s a lack of pace. Test cricket is about playing above your waist, especially when it’s Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph etc. on the opposition. He has got a little bit vulnerable.
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“The reason he gets vulnerable, watch his feet, he gets a little bit blocked off with his feet where they’re crossed over, and now to access the ball around his hip he gets in a little bit of trouble. You can bet in the last three or four weeks he’s trying to work out if they do bowl there.
“You get out there once down the legside, it’s unlucky. You keep getting out there, then you’ve got a problem. You may for a little while, Geoffrey Boycott advised me of this, put a chest pad on and just wear one there. Or just get out the way. At the most you’re going to get one down to fine leg. Is it a risk worth taking for getting caught down the leg-side?”
However, Hussain explained why the issue didn’t have to be terminal for Sibley’s career, and credited his willingness to improve, citing his weight loss during lockdown as evidence of his drive.
“This is part of being an international cricketer,” he said. “Dom Sibley’s done really well. We’ve waited yonks to have a Strauss-Cook combination. We’ve not got there yet. We’ve got Sibley and Burns making their way, but making their way means that sides will have plans for you, they’ll alter their plans, they’ll come up with another plan, and you’ve got to change.
[breakout id=”1″][/breakout] “You can’t just say, that’s the way I play, that was unlucky. Sibley actually strikes me… And the weight loss thing is important. If you’re thinking, ‘How can I improve with weight, how can I get fitter?’, you are somebody constantly thinking ‘How can I get better?’ You can bet that Dom Sibley’s been looking at that thinking, I need to do something about that.”
