by Zak Crawley is threatening to do what England coach Brendon McCullum never thought he could do: become a consistent Test opener.
“He will never be a consistent cricketer,” McCullum said, soon after taking over the job in 2022. “He is so dynamic that he will not be consistent. But when he has his day, he’s going to win games.”
McCullum spent much of his first year in charge justifying England’s persistence with Crawley despite average lows of 10.8 in 2021, often in language that was anathema to his team’s fans, who were used to steady openers like Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss. “The last two men who put the top order in this country were both called ‘sir’, so it’s not an easy thing to do,” said McCullum.
But Crawley’s output pattern has changed – and for the better. Since the start of last summer, he has averaged 52 in eight Tests. In that time, under 20 have been dismissed exactly twice. Since he agreed with Ben Duckett in December 2022, the England opener has averaged 49 in 13 Tests, and an unprecedented thousand. It’s quick, consistent scoring: in the last seven innings combined, they’ve failed to put on 40 just once. This from an England team that has spent a decade making 20 in two since the Strauss and Cook partnership ended in 2012.
At Hyderabad, Joe Root was to be praised for the way they “set the tone” with “great consistency”. Don’t tell Baz, Joe.
Crawley played well in Hyderabad, but went up a level or two in his 78-ball 76 here. It wasn’t perfect, given a diving one-handed chance he was brought down at midwicket on 17, and turned the ball straight at leg slip not long after. But his effort was great. Jasprit Bumrah had four fours, two of them straight-driven and another pulled in front of square, one over. There were two sweet slog-sweeps, the first of which brought up his fifty. Just before that there was a defensive pressure from Kuldeep Yadav who went down the ground for four.
Crawley failed a temperament test, however. India’s third spinner, Axar Patel, was brought into the attack as Crawley played Kuldeep and Ravichandran Ashwin well. Crawley hit his second ball through midwicket for a four, before trying to smash his third ball into the stands at long off. As the ball turned, it lost its shape, and was caught well behind square on the outside.
On his 26th birthday, Crawley had announced what he must add to his next game. At 114 for one, Crawley dominated the game, and India’s 396 looked modest. The pitch was still good for batting, but it only got worse. The game was entering “Bumrah’s End”, with the ball slightly older and the memory of his brilliant reverse swing in Hyderabad fresh in the mind. For India, Yashasvi Jaiswal managed only 35, but ended up shaping up to 209 matches. After playing so well, England needed their top scorer Crawley to turn a cameo into something more significant. Don’t wait for someone else to do the work. Since the fall of Crawley, England have lost nine for 139.
Crawley’s collapse sparked Rohit Sharma into life, and brought Bumrah back to bowl at Root, who he had dismissed in Hyderabad and picked up seven times in Test cricket, making him the most common victim . In another thrilling innings, he accounted for Root and Ollie Pope, then four more wickets in the afternoon session. Crawley’s impetuousness left the door ajar, and Bumrah barged through.
When Crawley walked off the field, he was likely to be greeted by a proud McCullum, happy with his development and no longer having to answer questions about his place in the team.
Crawley and Duckett live by the sword, and here he also died by it. He would argue that, rather than waiting for a ball that had his name on it (as Ben Stokes later found out), he took the initiative and looked to score.
“If I start doubting myself in those situations and not backing my instincts, I go back to the player I was a few years ago, not really scoring enough runs for my team, ” he said. “I wasn’t happy to quit when I did but I would definitely do the same [again]. I was disappointed with myself, especially when the wickets fell afterwards. But I’ll keep telling myself to get back to my attacking game because that’s what got me here.”
That makes sense, but this time, Crawley went too far. England have shown before – in the Ashes – that just because they say “that’s how I play”, doesn’t mean they don’t want to fine-tune the approach behind the scenes. Under McCullum and Stokes, Crawley is improving rapidly, but there is still scope to mature. The consistency is coming; now to be cut-throat.
