Series in Australia was meant to bring the best out of opener but he goes into Sydney Test with questions unanswered
I
t seems a little distant now, a little by-the-by, that this Ashes series was billed, among other things, as a referendum on Zak Crawley’s England career. The tour he was groomed for. The hidden sub-menace in his one-year central contract offer. Here was a chance to justify the high-wire walk of the last few years, to find an answer, perhaps, to the eternal question: is Zak Crawley actually any good?
In the event other things have happened, other warning lights blinked, other elements of England’s collective failure creaked more urgently. Shoaib Bashir, the project spinner, plucked from social media for this tour, is in the 12 for Sydney. He hasn’t taken a wicket in a proper game since July. Good luck babe!
Meanwhile Crawley is preparing to play his 64th Test, 10th on the all-time list for England openers. He averages 31. He averaged 31 at the start of the tour. He looks better than 31. He always looks better than 31. In Australia he has managed to make a pair in the first Test, but still end up as England’s top scorer heading into the fifth. Albeit on the current tour this is a variation on tallest very small person territory, most enjoyable snicko discussion, most luxuriously high-end TNT sport broadcast segment.
