Zak Crawley is a vital cog in England’s Bazball machinery. He has formed a successful opening partnership with Ben Duckett and they try to ensure the team is off to a quick start.
The Crawley-Duckett firm played its part in England’s come-from-behind win in the first Test at Hyderabad. The visitors had arrived in India after a preparatory camp in Abu Dhabi and chose not to play any tour game.
The way they batted — especially Ollie Pope — suggested that their training must have been on the right track in the Gulf country. “It was exactly how we trained in Abu Dhabi,” Crawley said at a press conference. “We had wickets there that turned a lot. It was a really good training camp for us, as we could control the conditions.”
The sweep and the reverse-sweep worked wonders for England against India’s quality spin trio at Hyderabad. “I think sweeping and reverse-sweeping when the ball is spinning is a good option,” he said. “I think the reverse-sweep is more common for us, because they always seem to have two men out on the leg-side. If they had two men out on the other side, we’d probably play the sweep. The reverse-sweep comes probably just as naturally to us as the normal sweep.”
Crawley believes the absence of K.L. Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja in the Indian side for the second Test will not make the task easier for England.
“We stick to what we do well, we are not too worried about what they are doing,” he said. “Two very good players are missing, but two very good players are coming in. So that won’t change anything for us too much. We will just try and play the same: read the conditions on day one and see what happens from then on.”
