CHENNAI: THE world of Test cricket has a new Sehwagian figure at the top of the order. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please give it up for... Zak Crawley. No, your computer screens aren’t glitching. It may be a bit OTT but allow an explanation.
If Joe Root is Bazball’s lodestar and Ben Stokes the insurance policy, Crawley is the foundation. India have seen Bazball in varying stages of flight in all four innings thus far. The primary reason for that is the start the opening pair of Ben Duckett-Crawley have given the tourists (55 and 45 at Hyderabad followed by 59 and 50 at Visakhapatnam; for comparison, it was 63 and 0, 0 and 17, 2 and 0, and 10 and 10 in the 2021 Tour).
The talent has never been in doubt (you need to be blessed to be able to hit 267 off Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah irrespective of the conditions) but he has added that tiny bit of consistency to his game. In the process, he is in position A1 to claim the title as the ‘most improved red-ball batter’ in world cricket.
It’s also inarguable that Crawley is one of several batters in this set-up to have profited from the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum regime. When the then 23-year-old toured India in 2021, his role in the set-up directly contradicted his natural stroke-making ability. A return of 67 runs from four innings (including a half-century).
Crawley was very intimate when he was asked about it before the second Test. “A lot of us play a bit better under this regime,” he had noted. “I suppose it (Bazball) comes naturally to us as a lot of our teams are playing more aggressively. The mindset when I first came to England was to take your time and build a long innings and I didn’t think that came naturally to me and a few of the others.” Crawley was being honest. The numbers are the proof. Divide his career into two blocks — one before Bazball and one during. In his first 21 matches, he averaged 28.6 at a strike rate of 53.81. Since Stokes and McCullum came together, the opener is scoring eight runs more per inning while striking at over 77. In literal terms, an average Crawley innings was 28 off 52 till April 2022. Since May 2022, it’s been 36 off 46. Since July 2023, it’s taken off — 62 from 74. With increased trust from the management, the output has increased following job security.
It’s in complete contrast to how he was when the coach and the skipper took over the team in the middle of 2022. Its soul had been ripped apart, losing games of cricket was their only identity and players like Crawley were in danger of falling through the cracks. But McCullum (perhaps he saw a bit of himself in Crawley) came, put an arm on the shoulder, sat him down and told him exactly what he wanted to hear. In fact, months after taking over the team, the former Kiwi captain had said: “I look at a guy like Zak and his skillset is not to be a consistent cricketer. He’s not that type of player but he is put in that situation because he has a game that means when he gets going, he can win matches for England.”
He was asked about that comment after his half-century in the first innings at Vizag. “Not something I have thought to be honest,” he had said. “I am just trying to chase those good moments and good days. I feel like I am playing better now than I was, so that is why maybe I am a bit more consistent. I am still trying to chase those big knocks but I did not quite manage it today. I am a better player now than when Baz made that comment but I understand what he said.”
Not just a better player but he is also a better player against spin. He has used that 6’5” frame of his to good effect in both matches; he has used those long levers of his to attack the spinners. He’s also been rock solid against the pacers (one of very few batters yet to be dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah in this series).
The next challenge for the 26-year-old, whose thrill-a-minute 182-ball 189 against Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Cam Green was one of the Test performances of 2023? Converting the 50s (only batter in this series to have crossed 50 twice) into a substantial three-figure mark.
He may well do it in the next game.