England's batting - help needed

England's batting in 2015 has really underwhelmed. Root and Cook are the only two that can hold their head high - both have been magnificent. On the rare occasions where they both fail, England really struggle. The rest of the batsman have shown a lack of form, application and ability.

Outside of Root and Cook, Gary Ballance is the only other batsman to have an average above 35 and he was dropped due to his poor footwork that was horribly exposed in the summer. Stokes and Rashid both average over 30, though Rashid has batted just twice and Stokes for all his talent, is very hit or miss (6 scores of 50+ but also 8 single-figure scores in 21 innings). England desperately need some consistency.

Bell, Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Buttler and Lyth have all really struggled to varying degrees. It is asking a whole lot of Root and Cook to post big scores every innings. At some point, the rest of the team needs to step up and/or changes be made.

Bell has to go. He has been poor for two years now. He has been a wonderful servant to English cricket and had a great career, but it is time give James Taylor a chance.

In addition, England still desperately need to find a genuine opening partner for Cook. Hales is next in line - he should have been given this series instead of being thrown to the wolves in South Africa. Moeen is a very good all-rounder and solid middle order bat - he is not an opener.

Twelve months ago, the wicket-keeping situation was thought to be one of England's biggest strengths. It has now turned into an area of concern. The biggest question mark regarding Buttler was whether he could improve his glove work. His bat was always a given. However, this year, it has been the exact opposite. His glove work has been tremendous, yet his batting has fallen off a cliff. He looks all at sea (especially against left-handed pace bowlers) and his aggressive nature is a thing of the past. His likely replacement, Jonny Bairstow has been re-integrated back into the side but has yet to show the same form he displayed in the county championship this year, with just 1 fifty in 8 innings.

To put everything into perspective, in 2015, Root and Cook have accounted for 44% of all runs scored by the top 8 batsman. Those numbers are even more emphatic during the recent series with Pakistan - the pair have accounted for 62%.

It is a testament to Root, Cook and the bowlers that England have yet to lose a series this year. That will all change in Sharjah unless the middle-order finally make themselves accountable.

Put some pads on opiss

Bairstow should have been included way earlier .

Buttler just plain burnt out .

They'll come good in SA  !

Hales should speak about footwork with the Coach ..

Well at least they have two top order batsmen averaging more than 50 runs. West Indies would be much better if they could have such top order batsmen. England are not known to have batting dept and it is their top order that usually leads the way.

That is not true. England's batting should actually be their strength. They bat incredibly deep. Throughout the summer they had Moeen Ali batting at 8 (First-Class average of 37), Stuart Broad (Test average of 23) at 9 and Mark Wood (First-Class average of 21) at 10.

Australia's batting has a lot of similarities with England. Australia have relied heavily on Steve Smith and Chris Rogers - their equivalent of Root and Cook. Smith and Rogers themselves have accounted for 43% of all the runs scored by the top 8 this year - almost identical to Root and Cook.

The slight difference between the two teams is that Australia's top 8 have a collective average of 39.34, while England have averaged 35.17.

I figured I would run the numbers on West Indies also. Their batting lineup has a better balance. Blackwood and Samuels (the two leading run scorers this year) have accounted for 32% of all runs scored by the top 8. Unfortunately, while the team is better balanced, the top 8 have been very poor, averaging just 26.21.

Same recipe from England. Cook's partner goes early, Bell not far behind. Moeen as an opener was, as many expected, an unmitigated disaster. How much longer can Bell be given?