England opener Zak Crawley believes he has turned a corner after enduring a poor run of form with the bat that he describes as "probably the worst summer I've ever had".
While England enjoyed great success under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, Crawley struggled for runs at the top of the order. The 24-year-old scored 276 at an average of just 23, including seven single figure scores in 13 innings.
He also managed just 467 runs at 27.47 for Kent in the County Championship. However, the summer did end on a much more positive note, with Crawley hitting an unbeaten 69 in England's win over South Africa at the Oval and 79 in his final innings for Kent as they secured Division One survival.
"To say it's been an up and down year is generous - it's been more just down," Crawley told BBC Sport. "It's been a tough year, probably the worst summer I've ever had, but I'm pleased with myself that I could bounce back.
"I always thought I would, but it just took longer than I thought. It's nice to find some rhythm and take a bit of confidence into the winter."
Crawley is now looking forward to the upcoming three Test series against Pakistan in December and credits the repeated support of Stokes and McCullum for it 'finally clicking'. He added: "The new way I've been playing towards the end, being more positive, suits me more.
"You learn way more from your failures than from your successes. I have learned what not to do. There are plenty of things I have done this year that I am not going to do again.
"If you can learn from it and get better from it then it's the best thing that's happened to me. I've learned a lot from Brendan and Ben this year, about how they play the game, their positive mindset and backing yourself.
"They are the champions of that, aren't they? It finally clicked towards the end of the summer, the messages they were trying to give."
