England sent Ashes selection demand over Zak Crawley | Cricket | Sport
Former England captains Sir Alastair Cook and Michael Vaughan have backed Zak Crawley to retain his spot at the top of the order for the Second Ashes test against Australia. England were beaten by eight wickets in the first test in Perth last week by the Aussies, with the match lasting just two days.
Crawley got a golden duck in the test, lasting just 11 deliveries across both innings, where he was dismissed by Mitchell Starc both times. The 27-year-old has been one of England’s opening batters since 2022, when Brendon McCullum was appointed as head coach and Ben Stokes was named captain back.
The second test will take place in Brisbane at The Gabba next week, where Crawley is expected to maintain his spot at the top of the order alongside Ben Duckett for England. Cook and Vaughan both believe that Crawley should, and will, keep his place in the team despite not getting a single run in the First Test.
“England are happy with getting three innings out of him, aren’t they? That’s what he’s done in the past and why he keeps playing in those and he tends to change the momentum of the game,” Cook said on the Stick to Cricket podcast provided by The Overlap and Betfair.
“He gets 80 or 100, it tends to be an unbelievable innings. He’s the best batter to ever average 80 in terms of the standard he plays. So actually, he’s having to deliver three out of eight now for him to work.
“I saw a stat that 41% of his innings end in single figures as an opening batsman. Zak Crawley is doing what Zak Crawley does. He’s been backed for three years until this moment.
“The decision on Zak Crawley will be whether this works over the next eight innings. If he plays three, hopefully four innings in this series and changes the game, that’s why he’s been picked and why he’s employed.
“Sometimes I look at him and the innings he plays are unbelievable. But they’ve backed him now and won’t change that until after Sydney. He plays all the way through for me.”
Vaughan was in agreement with Cook, with the former England captain also appearing on the podcast. Vaughan explained why Crawley’s place in the team is ‘safe’, but issued a warning of Australia’s likely plan to the England opener.
“He’s probably the safest player in the team,” Vaughan said. “He’s been chosen to play the way England want him to and they’ve gone consistent over three years.
“This is why they’ve been so consistent and at the first time of asking, if you played Zak Crawley bingo, you’d have probably had the full house after the first over.
“Big, big drives and then gets out playing the big drives. That’s the way Australia will bowl to him – they’re going to go full and try to get him driving.”
