YOU’RE THE TON THAT I WANT

Crawley hungry for maiden Test century to cement his spot in team

ZAK CRAWLEY is desperate to stop being England’s fall guy and make sure he remains in the batting lineup when Ben Stokes returns.

But as the only player in the top seven without a Test century to his name so far, there is only one way he is going to make himself undroppable in the future.

The 22-year-old has played seven Tests so far and as he eagerly anticipates his 11th innings following his recall, a top score of 76 suggests ability and promise. But it is the concrete output of a hundred that puts doubts and doubters to bed.

Fellow young batter Dom Sibley has done it twice and Ollie Pope has done it once, which means that Crawley needs to turn his dream into reality if he is to secure his place in England’s Test side.

“I’d love to score enough runs so my position in the side becomes more stable,” said Crawley as he looked through the gloom at the Ageas Bowl on a washed-out third day against Pakistan.

“I probably need some runs in the next few games to cement it a bit more.

“I think about scoring a hundred all the time. I pinch myself thinking about scoring a hundred in my room at night although I don’t want to put myself under too much pressure. No doubt the first one is the hardest to get.”

One of the strongest positives for Crawley is surely how straightforward he has made run-scoring look at times.

Kent team-mate Joe Denly has just as many strokes up his sleeve, but he almost appeared fearful of using them, so while he soaked up pressure and faced plenty of balls the runs tally wasn’t high enough.

And after making 94 against Australia at the Oval last summer Denly found out just how hard it can be to hold on to your spot, and when Joe Root returned to the he side after the birth of his daughter the he lack of a hundred certainly counted ed against the older man.

“That’s a picture where stats tell a lie,” ie,” offered Crawley generously. “There’s no hundreds next to his name but he e played some crucial knocks for r England. That 94 against that attack is as good as any hundred against a lesser attack. That was one of the best knocks of his life.

“He scored some great runs in New w Zealand and South Africa on tricky ky pitches, but the currency is 100s. I don’t n’t necessarily agree with it but it’s what hat we’re all chasing.”

INDIA’S World Cup-winning captain ain MS Dhoni has retired from international nal cricket to bring to a close a stellar career.

The 39- year- old chose Indian Independence Day to inform his 27 million Instagram followers that his final game for his country had been the World Cup semi-final defeat to New Zealand last year, his 350th ODI.

He finishes his career as the only man to captain the country to a T20 World Cup, in 2007, a 50-over World Cup, in 2011, and a Champions Trophy title, when India beat England in 2013.

Crawley likes a good run, but needs them in the 100-range to be sure of

his place