CRAWLEY HAS TON OF CLASS
Zak hits stylish maiden century to make No3 spot his own as England take control
ZAK CRAWLEY set a whole new standard with a maiden Test hundred that confirmed his arrival as a bona fide batsman at this level – and then some.
After becoming the first England No3 to score a Test ton on home soil for four years, Crawley turned it into a career-best 171 not out to put his team firmly in control on 332-4.
Meanwhile, Jos Buttler collected a rather entertaining 87 not out and will fancy adding to his solitary Test hundred on day two.
Crawley may have been picked originally on potential but there have been enough glimpses of what he can do in an England shirt to know that this day would not take too long to arrive.
He has steadily improved his performances over the course of his eight-match career, showing that he is not only a fast learner but that scoring was not a tortured process for him in the way it was for the man who presented him with his Test cap, Joe Denly.
While Denly could soak up pressure and face plenty of balls, he found it hard to score the runs that a No3 needs, which is why when captain Joe Root returned to the side for the second Test of the summer it was the presenter rather than the recipient who made way.
And 22-year-old Crawley has fully vindicated that decision after a performance in which he made batting look gloriously simple in the face of a challenging attack.
This innings was a joy to behold, full of crisp, clean shots that brought him 19 boundaries all round the wicket. He found a way to time the orthodox and reverse sweeps just as well as the pulls and the drives he played to visibly break the spirits of the Pakistani bowlers.
Standing at six foot five inches, the Kent batsman used his extra reach to great effect, punching balls at the top of their bounce over the Ageas Bowl outfield to create an air of total dominance for the vast majority of his innings.
On the odd occasion when the bowlers had the upper hand, he tucked in behind a resolute defence and the ability to sway out of the way like a boxer waiting to unload his next blow.
At the other end for most of the day was Buttler, who now walks out to the middle in his whites as if he is in the blue or red kit used by the white-ball teams. Over the course of this summer his batting has clicked thanks to work he has done on his technique and the extra responsibility of batting at No6 has seen him blossom.
His match-winning efforts in the first Test at Old Trafford are being replicated here and there is plenty of time left for him to turn his knock into something as grand as Crawley’s. The duo came together at 127-4 after a session and a half of hugely entertaining cricket with Pakistan’s bowlers finding enough movement to fox their team-mates including an absolute beauty from Naseem Shah to remove Root for 29.
Rory Burns fell cheaply as his summer starts to fade, while Dom Sibley’s lbw dismissal, dancing down the pitch to
Yasir Shah, was a triumph of decision making by umpire Michael Gough, who has been outstanding.