Zak Crawley has given Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes the ultimate vindication in their decision to back him above all others for the 2023 Ashes .
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He finished his series with a 76-ball 73 at The Kia Oval, whacking the first ball of England’s final innings of the series for four just as he did off the first ball at Edgbaston six weeks ago. He and Ben Duckett wiped out Australia’s 12-run lead in the first over of play today (July 29), and went on to record a fifty-run partnership in less than nine overs.
Before this series started, Crawley’s average was 28.26. He had one fifty in his last ten innings and 12 single figures scores in his previous 25 innings. When he scored a half-century against Ireland before the first Ashes Test, it was so streaky and full of false shots that rather than relieve anxieties over England’s opening partnership, it exacerbated them.
However, while his drive off Pat Cummins’ first ball of the series will be regarded as significant in England’s Ashes history, it’s perhaps more significant in Crawley’s own evolution.
Before the end of England’s second innings at the Kia Oval, Crawley has more runs than anyone in the series with 480. Australia’s highest run scorer, Usman Khawaja, has 424. While in exactly the same position, Khawaja’s job has been completely different for Australia. He’s absorbed pressure from the new ball and steadied Australia when they’ve wobbled, Crawley has been tasked with mullering as many runs as possible as quickly as possible.
Khawaja’s strike rate for this series currently reads 37.92. Crawley’s is 88.72. That all adds up to Khawaja having faced 96 overs worth of balls more than Crawley for fewer runs. More than an entire day’s play.
While this series hasn’t made a massive addition to Crawley’s overall average, although thankfully it’s now above 30, his strike rate has increased significantly. His overall strike rate has risen to 64.01 from 59.4 before Edgbaston. That’s the highest strike rate of any England opener with more than 1,500 Test runs, but the second lowest average (31.48).
His 480 runs in this series are more than Andrew Strauss or Alastair Cook ever made in any home series, and more than any England opener has made against Australia in a series in England this century. Only Strauss, Cook and WG Grace have higher averages than Crawley and a strike rate of over 50 against Australia among England openers.
There’s no one determining factor behind Crawley’s increased returns in this series. He’s slightly narrowed his stance which has improved his balance and weighting at the crease, but beyond that, there’s no determinate factor. He’s got out identically to before, caught behind five times by Alex Carey and three times in the slips.
Australia haven’t bowled well at him. They’ve allowed him to get off to flying starts before attempting unsuccessfully to rein him in. Despite looking infinitely more vulnerable when the pace is taken off the ball, they’ve insisted on their big quicks steaming in at him first up.
What Crawley’s role for England and the slight changes he’s made have allowed him to do is play to his strengths, and in this series, it’s come off. There shouldn’t be any doubt that he will go through periods where he isn’t scoring many runs again. As he admitted himself after his innings in Manchester, he will never be the consistent run scorer at the top of years gone by. But, for just enough of the time, he will come off, and when he does he’ll do it better than anyone else ever could.
