Crawley says poor county pitches hurt Test batting
ZAK CRAWLEY has suggested that the decline in England’s Test batting is partly due to the “poor pitches” on offer in county cricket.
A one-sided Ashes defeat featuring three hammerings followed by last week’s nailbiting draw in Sydney has led to a familiar bout of soul searching in the English game.
One of the most conspicuous problems is the team’s frequent inability to post significant totals – a problem that starts from the top of the order.
The skills needed to bat long and score big on a consistent basis appear to be in short supply and Crawley, 23, believes the deck is stacked against those who are trying to do so in the domestic game.
To see him at his best on Sunday – pulling the world’s No.1 bowler Pat Cummins hard in front of square or using his height to drive lavishly through the covers – it is easy to imagine him being a dominant figure in county cricket.
And, yet, he sits on a truly modest first-class average of 31.21 over four years with Kent.
Asked about his county record, he said: “I think it’s the fact I’ve batted on poor pitches, really for my whole Championship career.
“I feel like it’s been very hard to open the batting. The pitches have been very favourable to bowlers my whole career.
“At my best I’ve obviously shown something the England selectors have enjoyed, so I got picked with an average of 30. That is less than normal but there aren’t too many openers averaging a lot more than that at the moment.
“I think 34-35 is a very good average for an opener these days and that’s something that’s very different from 10 years ago.”