A TON WOULD TAKE WEIGHT OFF FOR ZAK
Crawley craves first Test century
ZAK CRAWLEY is desperate to stop being England’s fall guy and make sure he remains in the batting line-up when Ben Stokes returns. But as the only player in the top seven without a Test century to his name, 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 after day three of the second Test against Pakistan at Southampton was washed out, a top score of 76 suggests ability and promise – but a hundred would put doubts 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 cement his place in England’s five-day 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 yesterday.
“I probably need some runs in the next few games to cement it a bit more. Each time I go out I want to score good runs, and hopefully in a few games’ time or longer down the line my place in the side will be secure and I’ll play for a while.
“I think about scoring a hundred all the time. I pinch myself thinking about scoring a hundred in my room at night.
“I massively want to score a hundred for England, although I don’t want to put myself under too much pressure. No doubt, the first one is probably the hardest to get, so I’m very much looking forward to the day I hopefully can get one. There’s a lot of hard work to come yet.”
One of the strongest positives for Crawley is surely how straightforward he has made run-scoring look at times. Kent team-mate and friend Joe Denly had just as many strokes up his sleeve but almost appeared fearful of using them. It meant that although he was able to soak up pressure and face 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 when you fail to tick over to three figures.
When Joe Root returned to the side after the birth of his daughter, the lack of a hundred certainly counted against the older man.
“That’s a picture where stats tell a lie,” offered Crawley generously.
“There’s no hundreds next to his name but he played some crucial knocks for England.
“That 94 against that attack is as good as any hundred against a lesser attack. People say he never got a hundred but that was one of the best knocks of his life.
“It’s interesting the way things play out. He scored some great runs in New Zealand and South Africa on tricky pitches but the currency is hundreds.
“I don’t necessarily agree with it but it’s what we’re all chasing.”