England openers under pressure: Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood is desperate to heap more pressure on England's inexperienced top three, having been delighted with the Ashes hosts' recent decision to use a nightwatchman opener.

Calls for captain Joe Root to bat at first drop, made publicly by Australian great Ian Chappell but also England coach Trevor Bayliss, are expected to fall on deaf ears.

It means Joe Denly is likely to remain at No.3 for the first Ashes Test, with Rory Burns and Jason Roy opening the batting at Edgbaston.

Denly, Burns and Roy have played a combined 11 Tests.

The trio is already the subject of much conjecture regarding their tentative place in the side amid a broader search for England's next great opener following Alastair Cook's retirement.

Roy, the white-ball whacker who made his Test debut last week, was the latest to be given a chance but he stayed in the pavilion at the start of England's second innings of that clash with Ireland.

Nightwatchman Jack Leach, who bats at No.11 in county cricket, instead scored 92 opening alongside Burns in that dig at Lord's.

"I'm pretty happy with that. It means he doesn't want to go out there, doesn't it? I'm not sure," Hazlewood grinned.

"I was talking to Joe Burns the other day, I said if I have a big lunch maybe you can go out and bowl the first couple of overs after lunch if I'm a bit full? He said no.

"Their top order is under a little bit of pressure probably, with just the fact they haven't played that much Test cricket.

"The more we can put them under pressure early and get stuck into that middle order when the ball is nice and hard and new, that's great."

Hazlewood pointed to Nathan Lyon's domination of Moeen Ali during 2017-18 as a prime example of creating doubt in a batsman's mind.

Lyon dismissed the allrounder a record seven times from nine attempts in that series.

Hazlewood likened Roy's challenge to that of Australia's one-day captain Aaron Finch, who was trialled as a Test opener last year but then discarded.

"Finchy found it a big step up," Hazlewood said.

"He found the ball swung and seamed around and the wickets were a lot different to a one-day wicket. To play attacking cricket in those conditions is tough.

"He'd played a lot of his four-day cricket at five or six and I think Roy is the same.

"It's hard to bat five at a level below and then open in Test cricket."