Former Australian cricket Mark Waugh came heavily on England Test opener Dom Sibley, saying he is not a Test batsman as he doesn’t play such shots that can hurt the bowlers. Waugh is not sure how Sibley has reached the top-most level of cricket.

England will tour Australia later this year to play the Ashes series. Waugh’s comments came months before the marquee clash between the two giants. He feels England’s middle-order is suffering because of openers Sibley and Rory Burns.

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“There’s just no quality there. I don’t know why there’s no depth in batting in the English line-up. To me, James Vince is not a bad player. I know he’s played 13 Tests, but he’s got a touch of class. Someone like Dom Sibley, can’t score. You can’t come to Australia with Burns and Sibley opening the batting, because they can’t score. He hasn’t got any shots, Dom Sibley. He’s not a Test player, and quite frankly I don’t know how he got to that level. There’s got to be a shortage of players there,” said Waugh, speaking on the Road to the Ashes podcast.

“Dom Sibley, I just don’t know how he can play Test cricket. As a bowler, you worry about batsmen that can hurt you. No one’s thought of this. The England middle-order are suffering, because all the bowlers who play against England have got their tail up and confidence up because they are not getting hurt by Burns and Sibley.”

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“They can’t punish them, they can’t hurt them on any level. All they can do is survive and see off the shine. That’s no good. You have to put pressure on the bowler, and these two can’t do that,” he further added.

Dominic Sibley has played 20 Test matches so far where he scored 985 runs at an average of 30.78. He has only two hundreds in his name, one of which came against West Indies in Manchester last year.