Zak Crawley

A young and classy right-handed batsman, Zak Crawley initiated as a middle-order batsman when he began his journey at Kent in 2018. However, he soon found himself opening the batting and an impressive 2018-19 season has seen him go up the pecking order drastically. So, much so that England picked him as one of the backup openers for their tour of New Zealand in late 2019. Unlike many of the Test batsmen who played till the Ashes series, Crawley has the ability to score quickly and possesses a rich amount of timing. He is still raw though, and there is talk that he might need one more County season to be fully ready for international cricket. That said, it’s never a bad thing to be blooded slightly early in Tests. Crawley was Kent’s leading run-scorer during the 2018-19 County season with over 800 runs to his name, batting on some tricky surfaces against quality attacks. He loves to play the ball late and is quite strong off the back foot. Crawley might not England’s first-choice Test opener but his early selection means that in the long run, he’ll definitely get his chance.

Crawley made his debut in that 2019 New Zealand tour but announced his arrival when he scored 267 against Pakistan at Southampton. That innings was supposed to be the start of a flourishing career but the big scores were far and few which in turned made it difficult for him to cement a place in the Test XI. However, change in personnel; Stokes as captain and Brendon McCullum as head coach, gave Crawley a long rope and persisted with him. He has adapted to the \"Bazball\" and been instrumental in giving England quick starts.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan