FRIENDLY FIRE

Kent team-mates are ready to battle it out for crucial Test berth

ZAK CRAWLEY is ready for an old fashioned bat-off with one of his best mates for a spot against the West Indies.

With fit-again Rory Burns once again available to resume his opening partnership with Dom Sibley, Crawley must look one spot below if he is to continue his fledgling Test career.

And that means putting pressure on Joe Denly, his Kent team-mate and good friend, for his spot at No3, which he has yet to completely cement after 14 matches.

Denly presented Crawley, 22, with his Test cap, below, in New Zealand when he made his debut after an injury to Jos Buttler last November.

At the time Denly said of Crawley: “The biggest compliment I could give you, as a parent myself, is how proud I would be watching how you conduct yourself.”

Now they are vying for the same Test spot next month.

Crawley said: “I get on well with Joe and ideally we’d both play and then play together for a long while.

“He’s desperate to play for England, as am I, and we’ll be good friends whatever happens.

“I feel like the whole training period will be like that [a shootout]. We’re trying to show what we have got in the next two weeks.

“But you know what cricket is like, someone gets a bad decision or a really good ball and they’ve got a low score, it’s pretty hard to judge someone on that.

“The period leading up to the Test will be where they are looking at it, runs in the game won’t hurt your standing but I think they’ll be looking at the broader picture.”

Crawley and Denly will both play if the timing of the birth of Joe Root’s second child prevents the skipper from taking his place at No4.

They are the only members of England’s top seven without a Test ton and the first to correct that will put himself in pole position to play.