Zak Crawley's struggles continue, but there is a difference this time

Telegraph

19-04-2025

It was a confused, tortured walk off for Zak Crawley at Canterbury.
That was partly down to the peculiar manner of his dismissal: pushing forward tentatively in defensive mode to the bustling medium pace of Gloucestershire's Tom Price, the edge flew to first slip where the Australian Cameron Green, unusually, dropped a sitter, only to spoon the ball up to the wicketkeeper James Bracey, who took the catch.
Chaos... but vitally the ball stays up! https://t.co/JfV63m0mX1 pic.twitter.com/hAYJv2OiUw
— Gloucestershire Cricket 🏆 (@Gloscricket) April 19, 2025
It took the square-leg umpire to confirm that Crawley was out, and it must have felt like rubbing salt into the wound for Kent, after they had watched Green and Bracey make fine centuries in Gloucestershire's first-innings 472. Kent's response, with the England opener gone for one from five balls, was off to a rotten start.
Crawley's season has got off to a pretty rotten start, too. In three first innings, he has made 1 (7), 0 (4) and 1 (5). In two second innings, he has fared better with 31 and 58. The latter was a classy knock that set up a superb chase of 315 against Middlesex, although he was dropped on nought.
Crawley's run of form is not isolated to this season. He has been struggling ever since returning from a nasty broken finger in Pakistan last October. Across the formats, he has batted 23 times, scoring just 292 runs at under 13. He was undone by left-arm spin in Pakistan, then by Matt Henry, who dismissed him six times out of six, in New Zealand, and had a tough SA20 in the new year, too.
"OHHH YESSS"
Zak Crawley is dismissed for a fifth time in this test series by Matt Henry 👀
📺 Watch #NZvENG on TNT Sports and discovery+ pic.twitter.com/jIKCOmuRk6
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) December 14, 2024
While there has been a pattern to the scores, there has also been no real pattern to his dismissals this season: bowled by a hooping in-swinger from a left-arm seamer; cutting a medium-pacer to point; lbw to an honest straight ball from Toby Roland-Jones; bowled playing across the line to a left-arm spinner; now, caught behind with an assist from first slip. It has not been the same every time.
This has not happened in a vacuum. A lean trot in the Championship to start the new summer is nothing new for Crawley. He averages just 32.5 for Kent in first-class cricket, compared to 30.5 in Test cricket. Last year, he averaged 32.2 in 10 innings in April and May for Kent, with 238 of those runs coming in a single knock.
Championship form has never affected England's faith in Crawley, and is highly unlikely to now. They are on the threshold of a series they expect him to thrive in, against the world's best bowlers and, in the Ashes' case, on bouncy pitches which should suit him.
But things do feel a little different this time. For a start, Crawley is 27; neither old nor young. He was the future once, a high-potential player worthy of indulgence in the hope of performance's tomorrow. Now he has played 53 Tests, and only eight players have opened more often for England in Test cricket. He needs to repay that faith.
Just before his injury, suffered at the end of a Test against West Indies last July, Crawley appeared close to having cracked it, following superb series against Australia and India in 2023-24 and a solid start to last summer. Substance had been married to the obvious style, and his challenge then was converting half-centuries into match-shaping scores. Now, so short on confidence, it feels like we have rewound two years.
Last summer, Crawley was so embedded in England's side that when he got injured, they did not even look for serious long-term cover, instead experimenting with middle-order dasher Dan Lawrence. The alternatives – Keaton Jennings, Dom Sibley and Alex Lees – had been tried before, and just did not quite feel Bazball enough.
Now, though, credible candidates are emerging. Jacob Bethell is warming pine at the IPL, but played well at No 3 in New Zealand, creating a squeeze. Sussex's Tom Haines has two hundreds this year, and played nicely against Surrey at Hove, although England will no doubt have noticed how Gus Atkinson's bouncers troubled – and hit – him on a slow pitch.
Perhaps most threatening to Crawley is Durham's Ben McKinney, who is a rare batsman in that he is even taller than the Kent man.
McKinney is very early in his journey, and has just three first-class hundreds. An impetuous dismissal against Yorkshire on Saturday, caught at second slip going hard at the new ball, was a reminder that he has much to learn. But he averages 40 in first-class cricket, and made an excellent hundred on the Lions tour in Australia this year.
He fits the brief, and is being groomed by England, it seems. This summer is earlier than they would like him to play, but do not be surprised to see him in a squad on work experience, much like they planned for Bethell to be in New Zealand.
In the short term, England will likely be unmoved by Crawley's poor run, knowing he is a streaky player who can kickstart his summer in a single knock. But taking a longer view, they may reflect that more reliable alternatives are emerging.