Birthday special: Alex Lees – Talented opener England are banking on

Since Alastair Cook’s retirement from international cricket, England’s opening woes have been a constant issue and it was evident in the recent 0-4 Ashes loss in Australia. However, after the dismal show, England made some bold changes to their lineup and dropped the likes of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed, who both had many issues while facing the new ball.

The board invested in Alex Lees and backed Zak Crawley based on their talents and it has turned out to be a good move. Lees, born on April 14, 1993, celebrates his birthday today and has been around for a long time in the Yorkshire setup, having played 131 first-class games before making his Test debut against West Indies this year.

Though Lees could manage just 126 runs in six innings on the West Indies tour, he has certainly shown the ability to stay at the crease for long periods. There is no doubt about the potential that Lees has, but he will need to start converting his start into big ones to cement his spot in the playing XI.

With a List-A average of more than 40 and 18 centuries to his name in first-class cricket, Lees has played for Durham and for the England Lions apart from becoming the youngest-ever captain for Yorkshire in the one-day formats. The left-hander after returning from the West Indies tour played in the County Championship division two game for Durham against Glamorgan and scored an unbeaten 182 to carry his bat.

Definitely, England will have to stick to their current opening pair of Lees and Crawley in Tests until they settle into the side and Lees in particular is expected to do wonders if he fulfils his potential fully.