Zak Crawley inspired by past glories en route to rediscovering mojo in Sydney

NICK HOWSON: A second-innings 77 at the SCG was arguably England's most fluent knock of the series. And it came after revisiting footage of his career-best 267 against Pakistan

Zak Crawley rediscovered the knack for scoring runs in the fourth Ashes Test against Australia by revisiting footage of his finest England innings to date.

The 23-year-old averaged 10.81 in 2021, leading to him being dropped during the home India series and travelling as a reserve batter down under.

But Rory Burns' poor start opened the door to Crawley being reinstated. He repaid the faith in Sydney with an inspired 77 in the second innings, arguably the most fluent knock made by an England player all winter.

It was a key component of the tourists claiming a draw at the SCG and ending Australia's hopes of a third 5-0 whitewash in six home Ashes series.

Crawley's wretched year came after he signed off 2020 with a career-best 267 against Pakistan, the highest score made by an England Test batter for nine years. Only Joe Root (277) has managed more runs across the four completed Tests of this series.

He admits to drawing on highlights of that knock made against at The Ageas Bowl as a way of re-establishing belief in his own ability to make scores at this level and believes he has learned plenty from a lean last 12 months.

^{Crawley's modest first-class form was enough to get him an England call-up (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)}

“I watch that innings frequently, to be honest when I’m going through bad form because it is a nice reminder that I’ve done it before and I can do it again," he said.

"Sometimes if you are feeling a bit rough sometimes you can lose sight of the fact that you can play. It’s always nice to remind yourself that’s you’ve done it before and you definitely can do it again.

"I played really nicely that day but I feel like I’m a better player now and that’s because of the failures I had last year and, as I say, I feel like I learned a lot about myself. Like what not to do almost. I would have liked to score a lot more runs in 2021 but for that, I’m quite thankful."

Ahead of the fifth Test in Hobart starting on Friday (January 14), he added: "It’s always nice to get a score and I certainly take confidence into the next game but we all know what cricket is like and I would have said the 267 was a springboard for me. And, as we said in 2021, it certainly wasn’t a springboard. 

"But I certainly feel in a really good place with my game like I said before the Sydney Test. That hasn’t changed now. I feel confident going into this year. Hopefully, I can get a score this week in Hobart and then we move on from there. That’s where my concentration lies now - the first ball in Hobart."

Crawley's maiden England call-up in 2019 came with him possessing a modest first-class record; averaging 31.27 with three centuries.

^{Cameron Green ended Crawley's pursuit of a century (David Gray/AFP/Getty Images)}

His Test returns to date (849 runs at 28.30) have naturally done little to improve that. He attributes those numbers to playing on sub-standard county pitches, not just at Kent's home of Canterbury - an observation many including Rob Key have made while watching England batters perish in Australia.

"I think it’s the fact I’ve batted on poor pitches really my whole Championship career," he said of his relatively poor red-ball record. "I feel like it’s been very hard to open the batting. 

"At my best, I’ve obviously shown something the England selectors have enjoyed. So I got picked with an average of 30, which is less than normal but there aren’t too many openers averaging a lot more than that at the moment. 

"The pitches have been very favourable to bowlers my whole career so far so until that changes… I feel like it’s a little bit lower than I’d like and that’s probably because I haven’t gone on to score big hundreds. That’s where you can boost your average a little bit. But I think 34-35 is a very good average for an opener these days and that’s something that’s very different from 10 years ago."

Reaffirming his belief that the quality of pitches is an English domestic cricket problem rather than one exclusive to Kent, he sees no reason to move on from the Spitfires in an effort to boost his returns.

"As long as I'm playing for England I don't see the need to [move counties]," he explained. "So, as long as I'm wearing the three lions, I haven't really given it much thought, to be honest, because that's my sole focus at the moment.

^{Crawley hopes a difficult 2021 is behind him (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

"I don't think it's a Kent thing. Obviously, I'd like the pitch at Canterbury to be a little bit better. I don't think it's unfair of me to say. But I don't think it's just a Kent thing, I think pretty much all the grounds I've played on have been pretty poor. I can think of about two or three where I've got to them thinking that this is a really good wicket. 

"So, it'd be tough for me to find somewhere maybe a bit flatter. I think it's more a country-wide problem and I think it will help our Test team a lot if pitches did start getting better."

There is every chance a handful of the current squad will be around in four years time to put things right in Australia. Crawley is the youngest at 23 while Ollie Pope, Dan Lawrence, Haseeb Hameed and Dom Bess are 24.

"The Covid drama has made it a little bit different to what I’ve watched on TV and imagined it to be growing up," Crawley said of the experience. 

"That’s changed it a little bit but the majority of it has been top class and just how I expected it to be – quite hostile Australian crowds and a hostile Australian team who are very good in their own conditions. That’s what we know we’re going to get here and, unfortunately, we haven’t performed quite at our best. 

"But it’s a great experience and hopefully, we’ll see how my career turns out, but if I’m back in four years’ time then this experience will be very beneficial as it will be for everyone who is back in four years’ time."

Our coverage of the Ashes is brought to you in association with Cricket 22