Zak Crawley fell chaply once again in England's second innings at The Basin Reserve, flicking a tame ball from Matt Henry straight to midwicket. The dismissal continued Henry's extraordinary hold over the England opener.
Having hit back-to-back fours off the opening two balls of England's innings on the second day of their second Test against New Zealand, Crawley's advances were halted in the very next over. Facing his first ball of the innings from Henry, his eyes lit up when he was dealt a full, straight ball, with no real pace on it. As he went to flick the ball into the leg side to pick up more runs, Devon Conway had already locked in. The ball pinged off Crawley's bat and went near enough straight to him at midwicket.
Seeing the catch taken, Crawley looked almost dazed as the New Zealand players celebrated around him, before trudging off for his fifth single-digit score in seven innings.
That dismissal, while indicative of little in itself - an error from an out-of-form batter to a tame delivery, continued a disastrous record against specifically Henry. Crawley has been dismissed by him in all four of his innings this series, and hasn't scored a single run off him. Overall, Henry has dismissed Crawley six times in Test cricket, and Crawley averages 3.16 when facing him.
Before England arrived in New Zealand, it was clear Crawley was in need of runs. After scoring 78 in the first innings in Pakistan, his highest score was 29 in the first innings in Rawalpindi. Before that, having missed England's home series against Sri Lanka with a broken finger, the previous home series against West Indies had been a similar story. In all, since the end of England's series in India earlier this year, Crawley has been dismissed for single figures in seven innings out of 13 and passed 50 twice.
And another!
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 5, 2024
Crawley is bowled by Henry for 17 – England are 21-2 early doors.#NZvENG
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It's unsurprising then, that Henry has been able to find a weakness in Crawley's search for runs to exploit. In the first Test, Tim Southee sent down a tight opening over to Crawley in which he was only able to lay bat on ball once. After he was starved of the strike for the next two overs, Henry was able to fix him in his sights. Enticing the drive after four dots, Henry smashed the ball plumb into his front pad. That was followed in England's second innings by a sharp caught and bowled chance taken off a mistimed drive.
A frantic first innings at The Basin Reserve came to an end when Crawley was done all ends up by a peach, having looked frazzled in the 22 previous balls he faced. Tying these up with the flick to midwicket today, it's hard to discern whether Henry does have the wood over Crawley, or whether Crawley is just desperately out of form and short of runs. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, with both perhaps encouraging the other.
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