England Test duo Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope were both out for low scores on the opening day of the second round of the 2025 County Championship, continuing their struggles with form.
Pope was in early at The Oval after Surrey were put in to bat for their first home game of the season against Hampshire. Rory Burns was out for two in the second over of the day, bringing Pope to the crease when the defending champions were 3-1. Faced with a strong Hampshire bowling attack that contains Liam Dawson and Kyle Abbott, as well as England prospect Sonny Baker, Pope rebuilt with Dom Sibley but his innings came to end off the last ball of the ninth over of the day.
Faced with a ball that straightened slightly off the surface from Abbott, Pope looked to push defensively into the off side but gave an outside edge which carried to Toby Albert at second slip. The ball ended Pope's innings for 14 off 20 and left Surrey at 18-2.
That dismissal follows on from some bad luck for Pope last week where he was run out for 1 in Surrey's second innings at Chelmsford after a mix-up with Sibley. He scored 45 in the first innings of that match, forming a crucial partnership with Burns.
While Pope's place is under pressure following Jacob Bethell's emergence at No.3 in New Zealand, with Surrey teammate Jamie Smith – who scored a fluent 39 today – to come back into the side, Crawley's place is under a harsher spotlight.
Sonny Baker took three wickets on his County Championship debut last week, dismissing Jonny Bairstow twice 🔥
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 9, 2025
The 90mph England prospect spoke to @Yas_Wisden before the season about how he uses spreadsheets and notebooks to improve his game 📒
🤝 @remitly pic.twitter.com/3V5iJUmIBp
After a run of low scores over the winter, Crawley struggled in the SA20 and endured a tough start to the season for Kent in Division Two. He was bowled less than 10 minutes into the start of the domestic season, with Northants pacer Liam Guthrie uprooting his middle and off stumps. He scored 31 in the second innings, but slapped a length delivery to cover for a tame dismissal.
He endured further trouble today, when he was out for a duck in Kent's game against Middlesex at Canterbury. Having faced four balls, he was pinned lbw by Toby Roland-Jones, sparking a collapse that left Kent 79-6 in reply to Middlesex's 222.
England opening prospect scores innings-rescuing hundred
Elsewhere in the country, England Lions opener Ben McKinney scored his third first-class century in his 13th red-ball match. Durham were 0-1 against Warwickshire when Alex Lees fell in the first over, before solid partnerships between McKinney and first Emilio Gay and then David Beddingham, strengthened Durham's total.
However, they lost 5-60 later in the day as McKinney anchored their innings. He reached his third first-class century and second in the County Championship after making his debut in 2023. Opening for the England Lions in Australia over the winter, he scored a run-a-ball 110 in Sydney which prompted further speculation that he could be a senior England prospect sooner rather than later.
Former England spinner Graeme Swann, who was part of the Lions coaching staff in Australia, said McKinney "could easily walk into Test cricket now and do a really good job".
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