Records tumble: Zak Crawley was one of four England centurions on an incredible day one against Pakistan
(Picture: Getty Images)It was a day that would have made the Guinness Book of Records blush. Over 500 runs scored, four individual centurions and three of the ten-fastest hundreds ever scored by England.
All of which came within the space of three hours. As they’ve always said about Rawalpindi buses, you wait 17 years for England to turn up and play Test cricket, and they score the most runs of any team on day one in history.
“Hopefully we can get a thousand,” joked Zak Crawley, who himself made 122 in his first innings of the winter after a torrid summer that had seen his place come under serious external pressure, even if support from within the camp was unwavering.
“It feels great,” he added on being able to repay the faith that has been shown in him. “You always dream about Test match hundreds and today was very special. And I think that [being able to repay the faith] made it more special today.
“You always want more in cricket which is so frustrating. Even though it was one of the best days of my career it is still annoying when you get out so I was happy to get 120 but you always want more.
“I’ve never seen a day like it. I think it’s the record for day one of a Test so it was unbelievable.”
Unbelievable is an accurate word. To look at the scorecard is to see a day of domination that is normally reserved for older siblings in the garden who are in a particularly ungenerous mood. England’s run-rate only dipped below a run-a-ball for the briefest of moments in the middle of the day as they hit a total of 76 boundaries in 75 overs.
Crawley himself struck 21 as he displayed the type of strokeplay that evidenced why England are so keen to stick with a player whose average across his 29 Tests has long been the wrong side of 30. One pull in front of square, in particular, standing out as the shot of a player with class on his side.
“The whole idea [of ‘Bazball’] is to look to score,” he said. “But we’re never really looking to score quickly, we just want to be positive. If they bowl 100 balls in a good spot then we’ll block 100 balls. But if we get an opportunity to score, we’ll score.”
It is a sentiment supported by Crawley’s team-mate Harry Brook, who himself scored his maiden Test century off just 80 deliveries. An innings which included striking six fours in an over.
“They were all bad balls,” was Brook’s simple reply to Sky Sports when asked how it had happened.
While the process is simple, the result has been remarkable with England appearing to reinvent Test cricket in front of our eyes.
“It’s a tough question,” Crawley answered as to whether it was a day that confirmed that England are reinventing the cricketing wheel. “We’re certainly trying to change the way we used to play because we weren’t getting a lot of success doing that.
“I feel like we’re building into a decent side and we’ve just got to be consistent with it and we’ve proven we can be quite consistent with it over the summer. The important thing is we keep getting better.”
A dream day for Crawley could, however, have ended in disaster as when on 99, he was given out LBW.
“I thought it was out,” he admitted. “But Ducky [Ben Duckett] knew it was missing and has a good eye. I felt like I had missed an opportunity and so to be given not out on review was an unbelievable feeling and actually made the hundred more special.”
“It looked like it was missing,” added Duckett, “[but] if it was hitting middle halfway up I’d have told him to review it anyway.”
Whether it’s on the pitch or off, England are backing Crawley all the way. And today, he went a long way to repaying their faith.
