Adaptable centurion puts Burns and Sibley at risk for tours of Asia
Crawley has skills to open when Stokes returns to team Buttler’s improvement with bat paves way for Foakes to keep
When a lean, muscular and ginger-haired fellow next strides into the England Test dressing room, it is going to take a brave captain to say: “We are going to keep the same XI as last time, Ben. Hope you don’t mind being 12th man.”
For England’s next Test, it is not going to be Zak Crawley who will be dropped, as he was for two Tests earlier this summer when Stokes could bat but not bowl. In playing a golden innings of 171, and sharing – even dominating – a stand of 205 with Jos Buttler, Crawley has elevated himself above Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, having none of their idiosyncrasies, and bracketed himself with Ollie Pope as the long-term future of England’s Test-match batting.
A growth spurt such as Crawley’s on day one of the third Test opens up possibilities for the team to evolve. As England’s next Test is likely to be in Asia, whether in Sri Lanka or India or the United Arab Emirates, probably the best way to accommodate Stokes will be for Crawley to open with either Burns or Sibley, followed by Joe Root, then Pope and Stokes in some order at four and five, Buttler at six as a specialist batsman, as he was the last time England played in Asia, and Ben Foakes as wicketkeeper at seven, which again he was when England toured Sri Lanka less than two years ago.
Burns has temperament on his side, but not technique, when he moves his front foot across the crease not towards the ball. For Shaheen Afridi to have dismissed him three times in 36 balls in this series is not propitious when Australia have Mitchell Starc, but Burns has tinkered and bounced back before.
Sibley fits round pegs into round holes on the leg side, but into square holes on the offside.
It would not be heartless to shift Crawley from No3 the moment he seems to have made the position his own. Adaptability is all in batting today, across the formats, against various types of ball.
He opened England’s batting in South Africa last winter after Burns was injured playing football and learnt progressively on the job: 4 and 25 (an initiative-seizing knock) in Cape Town; 44 in Port Elizabeth; 66 (top score) and 24 in Johannesburg.
The class was already exuding. Crawley flapped at bouncers at the start of that series and, having learnt to extend his arms, nailed them with his pull-shot by the end. The caveat is that he has not had Pat Cummins hitting him with bouncers and following up with yorkers. Otherwise he can bat – and give England’s spinners a break by letting Foakes do the keeping.
Crawley has now become a sweeper and reverse-sweeper, a front-foot driver and back-foot puncher, a taker of quick singles and hitter of boundaries, patient (as when on 49) yet assertive, so balanced for one so tall, agile not stiff, quick-witted and above all orthodox, so that longevity is on his side. Credit to Ed Smith, the national selector: the easy option would have been not to select the prodigy from his old school of Tonbridge, and therefore to avoid the accusations of favouritism.
Buttler, though a fortnight away from his 30th birthday, is enjoying a growth spurt, too, as a Test batsman. Not having faced a competitive white ball since February, he has got his head around Test batting at last, and learnt to vary the tempo of his innings, bashing Yasir Shah when set, then blocking the second new ball. He has never been a missionary, but if he can turn his 87 into his second Test century, more conversions can follow.
Jonny Bairstow’s self-esteem as a Test cricketer is tied to his wicketkeeping. Not Buttler’s. He would obviously prefer to carry on keeping wicket – in England. Abroad, however, when he has to stand up to spinners, he must know that Foakes will do a better job, having seen him do so in Sri Lanka.
Buttler, in the field, could not pin down a position in the slips because he was conditioned to catch like a keeper, but he can excel anywhere else; and he would always do, willingly, what is best for his team.