England's opening woes: Alastair Cook's opening partners since 2012

8. Alex Hales

Hales could not replicate his success in limited overs cricket for England at the Test level

By the end of 2015, Alex Hales was finding his feet in ODI cricket and the team management decided to hand a Test cap to him in an away series against South Africa.

Hales really struggled in the 4 match Test series against South Africa and in 8 innings he had scores of 10, 26, 60, 5, 1, 18, 15 and 1. An average of 17 in 8 innings was not much to boast of for the English opener. However, he was picked in the squad to play a 3 match Test series against Sri Lanka in 2016.

Hales scored 3 half centuries in 5 innings and averaged 58.40 against Sri Lanka. The next assignment against Pakistan led to the downfall of Hales and his Test career.

Scores of 6, 16, 10, 24, 17, 54, 6 and 12 in eight innings at an average of 18.13 saw the selectors lose their patience with Hales at the top of the order. He has not played a Test since then for England.

Hales is a much-improved player especially in the ODI and T20 format and if he continues to score heaps of runs in county cricket, he still has a chance to make it to the English Test team. In 21 innings, Hales scored 573 runs at an average of 27.29.