CRAWLEY OUT TO PROVE HE’S NO ONE-HIT WONDER

ZAK CRAWLEY is yet to play an international innings in Asia but England’s quarantine period in Sri Lanka has given him plenty of time to think about what his first one might look like. Crawley, 22, arrived in Hambantota last weekend determined not to be a ‘one-hit wonder’ following his epic 267 against Pakistan last summer — his most recent visit to the crease in an England shirt. The Kent batsman, expected to shift from No 3 to open in the absence of expectant father Rory Burns in next week’s first Test, joined the rest of the squad for the tour’s delayed first net session yesterday after a blanket set of negative Covid-19 tests were returned following Moeen Ali’s positive one at the weekend. Before physical practice, it’s all about visualisation, according to Crawley. ‘You just sit down in a dark room and think about it,’ he said. ‘When you’re going to bed, before you shut your eyes, you’re sitting there looking at the ceiling, thinking about how you want to play. ‘I do quite a lot of that. During the days when you’re just daydreaming, you’re thinking about it and watching videos and constantly thinking about how you’re going to go about it. ‘If you think about it before you practise, that really helps.’ England’s batsmen used half-bats on scuffed surfaces in the heated tent at Loughborough before Christmas, in preparation for the alien conditions of Galle, where spinners have regularly opened the bowling in Tests. ‘The cricket over here is very different to in England so I feel like you have to adapt to that,’ added Crawley (left). This trip remains on a knife-edge, with the latest round of testing scheduled for today viewed as pivotal for the series to get under way in a week’s time. News that Chris Woakes — who travelled from Birmingham to Heathrow in a vehicle with Moeen — has subsequently tested negative was welcome, but there is an acceptance in both camps that the virus takes several days to manifest itself. Moeen is now in isolation with mild symptoms at the team hotel following an aborted plan to move him to alternative accommodation for 10 days. The designated property in Galle was undergoing building work upon arrival, while a reserve option in Hambantota was deemed unsatisfactory by the ECB’s chief medical officer Nick Peirce.