Crawley is Bazball’s straight man following an uncharacteristic tempo against type to help England win the first test.
The original Zak Crawley concept was straightforward.
Good interception points for the bouncy thing, a sluggish driver, a deadly puller, and quick reactions to the rapid stuff. The verdict outside of off-stump Don’t worry about it, steady. Is medium pace at fault? Mate, it doesn’t matter. When Test matches need to be won, get him in and let him loose against the greatest bowlers. Then, relax and consider England. The tall guy goes brrrrrr—England makes it.
Ben Duckett scored 41 more after facing just three additional deliveries, while Crawley scored 65 off 126 balls, his slowest of 22 Test half-centuries. With a final score of 149, Duckett would win player-of-the-match and make the back page of every British newspaper. The smaller man went brrrr and England won, not for the first time.
Ben Stokes saw this one-way love-in and made a note to include Crawley in his responses to nearly all of the post-match queries regarding Duckett. “The way Zak played was huge,” the England captain told the press in a different way.
Duckett made a similar statement: “Zak deserves a lot of credit. I give him credit for the way he played. Generous from the man who has frequently scored the most goals in their growingly successful partnership.
Duckett and Crawley have been the most successful partnership for England since they joined forces for the winter tour of Pakistan in 2022. Among the 10 opening teams that have had at least 20 partnerships since Crawley’s debut in November 2019, their pace of hitting fifty every three stands is the greatest in the world. Their combined 2,114 runs have came at an average of 44.97.
Even while Crawley’s average of 33.41 since Brendon McCullum and Stokes took over is a five-point gain over his 21 Tests before the 2022 summer, it is still unimpressive. His first-class average of 32.20 is comparable to his total Test average of 31.55. Even his Division Two record after four games with Kent this season is 31.28. Like a tote bag with a Substack, he is still painfully in his early thirties.
With 204 deliveries since the beginning of 2024, no one has faced Bumrah more frequently in Test cricket. Despite this, Crawley was dismissed at Headingley for the second time, being caught at first slip at the end of the match’s opening over.
When facing a fast bowler that is rightfully regarded as one of the best of all time, Crawley currently averages 48.50. And he is doing so with the utmost respect, not by trying to hit him off his lengths or put pressure back on him.
Has the Crawley tale gone too far? The intelligent player is now the one with the licence to be an island unto himself, the big adult son of Bazball, with vast strokes and unrestrained expression. Just like all the previous openers who have played the game, they are negotiating, grinding out, living, and existing.
With a chase to remember, they managed to take a 1-0 lead in a five-match series and win the first game of a 10-match blockbuster versus Australia and India. And they accomplished this by playing it slower and steadier than ever before with Crawley, the one guy who could be counted on to drive the tempo against the best teams.