Full Name

Zak Crawley

Born

February 03, 1998, Bromley, Kent

Age

26y 45d

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Offbreak

Playing Role

Top order Batter

Education

Tonbridge School

Zak Crawley went into the 2023 Ashes with an average of 28.26 from his first 34 Tests and his place in England's side under intense scrutiny. Six weeks later, he ended the series as their leading run-scorer having proved himself against an Australian attack fresh from a World Test Championship title.

Crawley's figures looked unexceptional when he was called up for England's Test tour of New Zealand at the age of 21, with three first-class hundreds in his career. But he had won plenty of high-profile admirers, who considered that his ability against the short ball and against genuine pace would enable him to flourish at international level.

He scored 1 in his only innings on Test debut, out of position in the middle order, but retained his place for the South Africa tour and made a maiden half-century in Johannesburg. And in his final innings of the pandemic-interrupted 2020 summer, he scored his maiden Test hundred against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl - which he turned into his maiden double, eventually falling for 267.

That ensured him an extended run in the side but he lost his place the following summer after a single half-century in his next 14 innings. He was recalled three Tests into a miserable Ashes tour, hitting an eye-catching 77 at Sydney, then finally made his second hundred in a high-scoring draw in Antigua in early 2022.

Despite Crawley's poor start under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes' leadership - he averaged 23 in the 2022 summer, regularly caught behind or in the slips while driving - he was retained and told to "chase moments" by McCullum, who saw shades of his own game in Crawley. A brilliant hundred in Rawalpindi - at better than a run a ball - bought him some time but he remained under pressure before the Ashes, as the runs dried up in New Zealand.

He responded by crunching the first ball of the series through cover-point for four at Edgbaston, before hitting a stunning 189 off 182 balls in the fourth Test in Manchester. He finished the series with 480 at 53.33, with a strike rate of 88.72 - the highest aggregate by an England opener in a home Ashes since Mike Atherton in 1993.

Crawley was a graduate of the Kent academy, having attended Tonbridge School, and was mentored by Rob Key as a young player - before Key became England's managing director of men's cricket. He does not use social media - where his continued inclusion in England's squads has split opinion - and his main interest outside of cricket is golf.

England's busy Test schedule has limited his white-ball opportunities, though he played three ODIs for a second-string team against Pakistan in 2021 after the first-choice squad were sidelined with Covid-19. He has played in the Big Bash for Hobart Hurricanes, and has a T20 hundred for Kent.

ESPNcricinfo staff

Zak Crawley Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests44822261126732.63403764.6741436210500
ODIs88119958*28.4220597.070223280
FC1101985632126732.751029961.371037899231040
List A3130294212033.64122676.83161012190
T20s686441689108*28.151248135.331818647250

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests44------------
ODIs8------------
FC110166330---3.00-000
List A31112170---8.50-000
T20s68------------
Zak Crawley

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Photos of Zak Crawley

R Ashwin was a force with the new ball again
Zak Crawley wears one on the rib cage
Zak Crawley looks back to see his stumps rattled
Sarfaraz Khan's fielding effort attracts the attention of Dhruv Jurel and Zak Crawley
Zak Crawley raises his bat after getting to fifty
Zak Crawley drives the ball through the off side