England openers bat on one leg in the nets as they bid to address Ashes woes

England openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed were seen batting on one leg in the nets in Melbourne ahead of the Boxing Day Test

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England ‘s incumbent opening pair of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed have struggled in the Ashes so far, with the pair averaging 12.75 and 14.50 respectively.

Either one of them could be dropped for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, with Zak Crawley, a player who many observers feel is well suited to batting in Australia, waiting in the wings for a potential recall.

Between them, Burns and Hameed have been out nicking off outside off-stump a total of six times in eight innings, with their struggles underlining England’s woes.

However, ahead of the third Test, the pair took part in a unique batting drill with assistant coach Ant Botha, with cricket writer Bharat Sundaresan sharing a clip on social media which shows Burns and Hameed batting in the nets on one leg while getting throwdowns from Botha.

The drill was described as a unique balance test, while it is surely no coincidence that Botha was tasked with giving the throwdowns as he is left-handed and can replicate the angle that Australia ‘s left-arm quick Mitchell Starc provides.

Although the vast majority of England supporters were baffled by the sight of Burns and Hameed batting on one leg, Gerhard Erasmus, who captained Namibia in their impressive T20 World Cup campaign, gave an insight into the drill’s potential benefits.

“Some negative comments on here, but I like it,” he tweeted. “When you’re backs against the wall, you have to fall back on foundations. Base work.

“They are high level players, and with a positive mindset can turn their form around. Cricket is brutal, but you’ve got to own your own game”.

Despite England’s batting struggles in the series so far, Dawid Malan is hopeful they can build on the fight they showed in their second innings in Adelaide.

“I know we only scored 180 but a lot of the boys came out learning a lot that you can actually survive a lot longer than you think without having to play shots and without having to try and take the attack to the bowlers.

“Last week was actually a good learning curve for us about how we can actually go about applying ourselves but obviously it’s about scoring runs not just surviving.”