Mark Stoneman is the latest man entrusted with partnering Alastair Cook at the top of the England batting order.
Stoneman, when he faces the West Indies next week, will be the 13th opener other than Cook used since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012.
Here, we assesses how each has fared.
NICK COMPTON
18 innings, 498 runs at an average of 31.12, 1×50, 2×100, top score 117JOE ROOT
11 innings, 417 runs at 41.70, 2×50, 1×100, top score 180 A short-lived experiment for the home Ashes series in 2013 produced one brilliant innings but little else of substance. Stepped up once more to open in November 2016 with Haseeb Hameed injured.MICHAEL CARBERRY
10 innings, 281 runs at 28.10, 1×50, 0x100, top score 60 Recalled aged 33 for the whitewash Ashes defeat in 2013-14. Third in England’s averages with one half-century and three scores in the 40s, but became a fall guy.SAM ROBSON
11 innings, 336 runs at 30.54, 1×50, 1×100, top score 127 Played throughout the summer of 2014 but hit his only century in his second Test at Headingley before problems around off-stump appeared to cost him.JONATHAN TROTT
6 innings, 72 runs at 12.00, 1×50, 0x100, top score 59 Back in first-class cricket after stress-related problems, Trott returned in an unaccustomed position against the West Indies and made one half-century but five other scores under 10, including three ducks.ADAM LYTH
13 innings, 265 runs at 20.38, 0x50, 1×100, top score 107 Made his sole hundred on his home ground of Headingley but had a top score of just 19 in his last eight attempts. An Ashes winner, but now a forgotten man for England.MOEEN ALI
6 innings, 84 runs at 14.00, 0x50, 0x100, top score 35 After a failed experiment as a pinch-hitter against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, Moeen has settled back into his niche as England’s spin-bowling all-rounder.JOS BUTTLER
1 innings, 4 runs at 4.00, 0x50, 0x100, top score 4 England doubled down on top-order aggression against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in October 2015, for a brisk chase of 98 in failing light. Cook was unused in a plucky 74 for four in 11 overs.ALEX HALES
21 innings, 573 runs at 27.28, 5×50, 0x100, top score 94 England banked on Hales’ limited-overs shot-making working out in Tests but instead he occasionally retreated into extreme caution. Failed to convert his five half-centuries and has returned to just white-ball duty.BEN DUCKETT
4 innings, 92 runs at 23.00, 1×50, 0x100, top score 56 Made one half-century in four innings against Bangladesh, and dropped to number four against India before being jettisoned altogether.HASEEB HAMEED
5 innings, 160 runs at 32.00, 1×50, 0x100, top score 82 Looked better than his figures suggest and it was injury that cost him his place, but a dreadful early summer with Lancashire kept him on the outside looking in.KEATON JENNINGS
12 innings, 294 runs at 24.50, 1×50, 1×100, top score 112 The Durham batsman made a century and a duck on his Test debut but has struggled since.TOTAL (all openers other than Alastair Cook )
118 innings, 3,076 runs at 26.75, 14×50, 6×100, top score 180ALASTAIR COOK
114 innings, 4,721 runs at 43.31, 26×50, 10×100, top score 263 *Figures refer only to innings as an opener since Strauss’ retirement. *Includes two innings in which England’s opening partnership did not feature Cook – Moeen and Buttler v Pakistan ( Abu Dhabi 2015) and Hales and Compton v Sri Lanka (Lord’s 2016).
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