England vs Zimbabwe: Zak Crawley returns to form with crucial century in bid to keep hold of Test spot | Cricket News

England were dominant on day one of the Test summer, their top three batters all scoring sizeable centuries against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge.

But as England racked up a massive 498-3, there’s not much new we learnt about Ben Stokes’ side that we didn’t already know.

How a new-look, inexperienced attack – including debutant Sam Cook – fares when they set about their work at some point of day two will hold more intrigue, but as far as the batting is concerned, the same question remains, ‘who, if anyone, misses out when Jacob Bethell returns to the fold?’

Despite Bethell missing this Test due to his Indian Premier League commitments, Stokes hinted strongly at his return to the fold for the India series later this summer after impressing with three fifties in as many Tests on his debut tour of New Zealand over the winter.

“I think you put two and two together, you probably know what’s going to happen,” Stokes said pre-match.

With the world’s top two-ranked batters firmly in situ at Nos 4 and 5 in Joe Root and Harry Brook, the perceived wisdom is it’s a shootout between Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope – cue the pair racking up scores of 124 and 169 not out, respectively, on day one.

Pope scored more, and could have his sights set on a second Test double-century early on the second morning, but Crawley’s knock was no doubt the more important.

Pope’s place in this England side has been, and continues to be, under threat but he ended last summer with a fine 154 against Sri Lanka when filling in for Stokes as skipper, while the vice-captain also filled in admirably as wicketkeeper in New Zealand, cracking a couple of fifties in the 2-1 series win too.

For Crawley, New Zealand was nothing short of a personal nightmare, the opener averaging only 8.66 across his six innings, stretching a wretched run of form dating back to the start of last summer – 78 runs over eight Tests, containing one fifty.

It’s the sort of run that has plagued Crawley’s 54-Test career, with ‘famine’ too often interspersed with ‘feast’, his career-best 267 in 2020 against Pakistan and a supreme 189 struck against Australia in the 2023 Ashes landing firmly among the later.

They’re the kind of knocks that have prompted such patience from the England hierarchy when Crawley’s in the midst of one of his barren runs, with head coach Brendon McCullum saying soon after taking over in 2022: “I look at a guy like Zak and his skillset is not to be a consistent cricketer.

“He’s a talent, and there are not too many of those guys floating around. He has a game which, when he gets going, he can win matches for England.”

Though that 189 against Australia at Old Trafford came in a draw due to rain, Crawley’s impact on that Ashes series was certainly felt, with the noise that greeted his cracked four through the covers off the very first ball still reverberating around Edgbaston now.

England want that attitude, that mentality, that mindset to greet Australia again during this winter’s tour Down Under, but they need his technique to hold up well enough this summer for that to be a possibility.

There will be the much sterner Test of India that awaits – provided Crawley keeps his spot – but there were encouraging signs as he rediscovered his century-scoring touch against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge.

Crawley, at his worst, is loose on the drive and incapable of putting the shot away when bowler of conditions dictate, but this was a more disciplined display from the opener as he picked the right deliveries to go after – and deliciously dispatched plenty to the cover boundary when he did – but also showed a decent amount of restraint, also leaving well outside his off stump.

As Ben Duckett brought up a run-a-ball hundred and Pope’s took 109, Crawley’s 145-ball effort was hardly what you’d call sluggish but it gave nod to his more watchful approach.

“It was really nice, a fantastic feeling to score a Test hundred,” Crawley told Sky Sports at the close of play.

“With Ben playing as well as he did, I didn’t feel a heap of pressure, and then Pope came in and played the same way. I was just trying to get singles when those guys were in, to be honest.

“It wasn’t my quickest Test knock ever, but I was very pleased with how I played – and those guys played incredibly well too and took a lot of pressure off me.”

It’s notable that Crawley had praise for his opening partner, as well as Pope, as even through Crawley’s rough patches of form, his partnership with Duckett has proven to be a fruitful one.

With their 231-run stand against Zimbabwe admittedly skewering the stats somewhat, the pairing have now surpassed Sir Andrew Strauss and Sir Alastair Cook as England’s best opening pair in Tests, in terms of average, with their 42.71 per partnership bettering Strauss and Cook’s 40.40.

The pair compliment each other brilliantly, with Crawley’s 6 ft 5 stature, and keenness to drive the ball dovetailing perfectly with the diminutive 5 ft 7 Duckett, who’s strengths are square of the wicket and against shorter-pitched bowling.

Zimbabwe’s seam attack aren’t the first to be flummoxed as to the correct lengths to bowl to both, that pursuit being consistently thrown off as the little and large pair regularly rotate the strike.

It’s another reason why, despite ultimately scoring less than Pope in this first innings, Crawley’s return to form might well see him in the driving seat for that India series, rather than Pope or Bethell having to fill in and forge a new dynamic with Duckett at the top of the order.

It doesn’t mean Crawley is a done deal, however, which is why he was kicking himself for failing to kick on further at the close of play.

“I always want a big score, I was disappointed when I got out,” Crawley said. “There were more runs for the taking.

“You obviously know you’re under pressure, but the thing for me is I just want to play well. It bothers you a little bit, but the most annoying thing is not playing well.

“You don’t want to feel like you’re hanging on. There are certain times when you feel like you’re playing for your place – I’ve felt that loads of times in my career – and so it’s a much nicer place to be when you’re contributing and feel part of the team.

“There are so many good players in the country right now, that you’ve got to try and match them and keep up with them.”

Watch day two of the one-off Test between England and Zimbabwe live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10.15am on Friday (11am first ball).