With 57 Tests to his name, Zak Crawley has now played more games than the likes of Les Ames, Dennis Amiss, Patsy Hendren, Jim Laker, Jonathan Trott, John Snow, Herbert Sutcliffe, Maurice Leyland, and others. Interestingly, he is just four short of equalling the legendary Jack Hobbs’ 61 caps for England. Yes, England now play more than 10 Tests a year. But for a player who averages a shade under 31, that is a lot of Test matches.
Despite Crawley’s underwhelming numbers, the England think-tank seem to have full faith in the Kent cricketer. In that context, what could be the reasons for the England management investing so much in Crawley? One of them could be that they want stability in the side. The other rationale might be that Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes and co. are betting on Crawley putting up a good show in the forthcoming Ashes in Australia.
In fact, Crawley averages over 43 against Australia. In the 2023 Ashes, he showcased his skills against the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. The only small caveat attached to it is Crawley averaged less than 30 while taking on Australia in their own den in 2021-22. It has to be observed, however, that some of the wickets in that Ashes series in Australia were quite tough to bat on.
His modest numbers don’t tell you that Crawley has tried to rectify his issues. He did look to shorten his wide stance before the 2023 English summer. And that helped him to elevate his game to the next level. But in the last 12 months or so, his game is back to square one, illustrated by his averages of 24.54 in his previous 13 Tests.
To make it worse for the England Test set-up, Ollie Pope, the vice-captain, too, has been inconsistent. He has a habit of performing well over an innings or two and then going through a run of low scores over a string of matches. That kind of inconsistency reflects in his average of 35.22. Even in the ongoing five-match Test series versus India, 106 of his 186 runs have come in one innings. Incidentally, 42 of his 99 dismissals have been through the lbw and bowled modes of dismissal, and that is a high percentage.
The crux of the matter though is whether England have the required replacements for the batting duo. The answer to that question is they seem to have one of the bases covered, with Jacob Bethell waiting in the wings. The left-hand batter averaged over 50 in some tricky climes in New Zealand last year.
He also batted at the crucial No. 3 slot, which is currently occupied by Pope. In that series in New Zealand, England had to rejig to the batting order after Jordan Cox, their incumbent ‘keeper for the tour, injured his finger. Pope took up ‘keeping duties, and batted lower down the order. With Jamie Smith, the regular wicketkeeper, back in the mix after missing the New Zealand tour due to personal reasons, Pope has taken over the No. 3 slot.
This is probably the right time to select Bethell in the playing XI. He didn’t just showcase his skills in New Zealand but also looked confident at the top of the order in the 2022 Under-19 World Cup. The million-dollar question still remains unanswered – Will England take the gamble and leave one out of Pope or Crawley? For the time being, it doesn’t seem so.
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