England’s conundrum over chaotic Crawley remains unsolved

We have been here before.

Gareth Southgate and a second holding midfielder. George Ford and Owen Farrell. Zak Crawley and England’s Bazballers.

Decisions questioned again and again from the outside that are met with the straightest bat from those in the inner circle. You doubt Zak Crawley? That’s a you problem.

The Crawley conundrum has remain unsolved throughout his five-and-a-half-year England career.

A batter capable of innings the greats would envy, with a mediocre county and international record overall.

Those days in the sun – the 267 against Pakistan, the 189 against Australia or 124 just three matches ago against Zimbabwe – dampen the chatter for a while but it does not stay quiet for long. The noise never truly goes away.

England claim to have made peace with the scenario they have given themselves.

They bank on the upside, say they don’t want him to be consistent and think he could be a not-so-secret weapon down under this winter given his perceived ability to score on fast, bouncy pitches.

Crawley’s 18 from 43 balls on day one of the third Test against India stood out as frenetic, even in the most chaotic England team for a generation.

After edging through five overs, he began the sixth by walking towards bowler Akash Deep. A ball later he was deep in the crease, two later charging again and from the sixth delivery he was almost bowled around his legs as he advanced once more and swiped to leg.

Crawley has all of the notes but somehow manages to play them in a painful way.

India seamer Deep is Crawley’s old ghost who has returned to play tricks through the night.

Crawley began this series with 65 in the second innings at Headingley – a knock that formed part of a crucial 188-run stand with opening partner Ben Duckett and set England on course for victory.

Enter Deep.

He twice bowled Crawley with a nip-backer in his first spell as a Test bowler in Ranchi last year. Deep sent Crawley’s off stump cartwheeling but had bowled a no-ball. When he repeated the delivery soon after the England opener departed for 42.

Faced with Deep again, Crawley responded by leaving a well-crafted plan somewhere on the M1 between Leeds and Birmingham.

With Deep called into India’s XI for Jasprit Bumrah, to many the best bowler of his generation who had been played so calmly the week before, Crawley moved his stance from middle stump to an unusual position outside off.

At Lord’s on day one, Crawley flicked between his two theories.

To the recalled Bumrah he remained on middle but to Deep he took guard on off, only adding to the hectic feel.

The opener would say moving right and left, forward and back allows him to impose himself on each bowler, allowing him counter their threats by forcing each to leave their favoured line and length.

The reality is Crawley gave the impression of a batter who does not trust his own technique.

“The innings showed him not thinking as clearly as I would like,” former England captain and opener Sir Alastair Cook told Today at the Test.

“He’s doing it to unsettle Deep’s line and length but it is a sign he is not confident about lining him up.

“It unsettles Crawley more than Deep.

“It was so different to when Crawley played at his best at Headingley. That was a brilliant innings, with great tempo and timing. Today he looked confused.”

Crawley was eventually dismissed not by Deep but part-timer Nitish Kumar Reddy. Reddy got the ball to angle, nip away and bounce to take the glove.

It was a good ball, yes, but another Crawley dismissal against medium pacers.

The result of another painful outing is the brief period Crawley looked to have made a breakthrough at the highest level looks like the exception rather than the norm.

He averaged 43.83 from the start of the 2023 summer to breaking his finger last July but 27.60 and 24.76 either side.

England have backed Crawley to the hilt.

Despite the failures, his little-and-large partnership with Ben Duckett is good.

No opening pair has put on more Test runs since Duckett’s recall in December 2022 and their average as a pair is better than that by Cook in his heralded combination with Sir Andrew Strauss.

After the win at Headingley, Crawley’s captain Ben Stokes deflected praise of Duckett’s 149 onto Crawley.

“The way Zak played was huge,” Stokes said, when specifically asked how well Duckett had played.

“They complement each other. Left-hand, right-hand. One is a giant, one is not. It is very hard for bowlers to settle in. Ducky has got the 149 but Zak was so, so important.”

But Test cricketers cannot survive by solely providing yin to someone else’s yang.