England's batting slips to 128-year low

If England are to prevail in this enthralling five-Test series against India, statistics suggest they will not have the top four in their batting order to thank for their success.

Leading 2-1 and having moved into a strong position in the fourth Test after another day in which their lower-middle order stood up to be counted, England remain favourites to take out the series over the world's top-ranked Test side.

However, the questions surrounding the make-up of their top order continue to be asked, and it would appear they have never been more apt; not since 1890 have England's top four had a lower combined average in a Test series on home soil than the 18.92 they have recorded this northern summer against India, with one match still to play.

The home side has experimented with seven batsmen in the top four positions across seven innings, with three – openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings, and skipper Joe Root – playing all seven.

Ollie Pope (three innings), Dawid Malan (two), Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow (one each) have also been tried in the top four, with the highest score from any of them being Pope's 28 on debut.

The failings are also evident in a look at the leading run-scorers for the series. England's top two are Jos Buttler, who has batted at six and seven, and No.8 Sam Curran, who has only played three of the four Tests.

The issue was foreshadowed by England coach Trevor Bayliss at the beginning of the northern summer, after his team had experienced chastening tours of Australia and New Zealand, during which the top four also failed to deliver.

On those tours, only one player – captain Joe Root – averaged above 40 in the two series defeats (4-0 in Australia, 1-0 in New Zealand), with wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow the next best performer with 469 runs at 36.07.

"I don't think there's anyone at home putting their hand up at the moment and saying 'come and pick me'," Bayliss said in April.

"The same questions are still there but I'm not sure there are better players out of the team at the moment.

"So who do we replace them with?"

It was in the Ashes of 1890 that England's top four last experienced such a lean run; then, they averaged 14.86 across two Tests yet, quite remarkably, won the series 2-0.

While Root's lean series – one fifty in seven innings – has been somewhat of an anomaly for the 27-year-old, the critics have been circling around Jennings, who is in his third incarnation as a Test batsman, having debuted with a century in India in 2016, and particularly Cook, who is averaging 18.62 in 2018, and has endured the worst two series of his Test career (based on batting average) this calendar year.  

"My concern watching him is that I don't see any improvements in his game," former England captain and Cook's long-time mentor Graham Gooch told BBC Radio last week.

"I think he's flatlining a little bit … when you're a cricketer, a batsman, you always need to improve yourself – you need to look for new things to do to drive you forward.

"I don't know how he's practising, I don't know what he's doing away from the game. I am concerned when I see him play, because I think he makes similar mistakes, and even at 33, 34, you can improve yourself."

England's top five also has one Test remaining to avoid a repeat effort from the 2013-14 Ashes – the last series of four-plus matches in which they failed to register a century.

England's top four against India, 2018*

Joe Root: Seven innings, 194 runs @ 27.71. HS: 80
Keaton Jennings: Seven inns, 130 runs @ 18.57. HS: 42
Alastair Cook: Seven innings, 109 runs @ 15.57. HS: 29
Ollie Pope: Three inns, 54 runs @ 18. HS: 28
Dawid Malan: Two inns, 28 runs @ 14.00. HS: 20
Moeen Ali: One inns, nine runs.
Jonny Bairstow: One inns, six runs.

*One Test still to play