Zak Crawley

Zak Crawley's enigmatic record divides opinion, to a greater extent than many in English cricket's long history. Intoxicating on his day but prone to long runs of low scores, Crawley was backed unfailingly by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and became one half of a successful opening partnership with Ben Duckett. By the end of England's home series against India in 2025, no batter in Test history had opened the batting so often (94 times) yet averaged so little (30.88), yet Crawley's rare talent against high pace meant that his position was rarely in doubt. Dozens of previous England discards must wish that they had been given such security.

Crawley, a graduate of the Kent academy, attended Tonbridge School and quickly moved into a flat overlooking the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury. Encouraged by his father, he travelled to Neil 'Noddy' Holder's academy in Perth and attended spin camps in Mumbai. He was mentored by Rob Key as a young player - before Key became England's managing director of men's cricket - and has admitted that he initially wanted to become a golfer, before focusing his attention on cricket.

Crawley did not break into England's Under-19s but won his first Test call-up at 21 after an 820-run season for Kent in the County Championship. His numbers were unremarkable - he had only scored three first-class hundreds - but a century against a strong Nottinghamshire attack had caught the selectors' eyes, and he made his debut in New Zealand after Jos Buttler suffered a back spasm in training. Rory Burns' injury on the subsequent tour to South Africa gave him a chance at the top of the order, and he top-scored with 66 in the final Test in Johannesburg. He was preferred to his Kent team-mate Joe Denly at No. 3 the following summer, and promptly cracked 267 against Pakistan in Southampton to announce himself to the world as a young player to watch.

But it proved to be a false dawn: he made 50 once in his next 14 innings, and was promptly dropped during the 2021 summer. His 77 at Sydney after a mid-series recall in the 2021/22 Ashes was a timely reminder of his ability, and a long-awaited second hundred followed in Antigua a few months later. He had a lean summer in 2022, England's first under Stokes and McCullum's leadership, and despite a rapid hundred on a Rawalpindi road, there were question marks over his place heading into the 2023 Ashes.

McCullum told Crawley to "chase moments" in the recognition that he was unlikely to be a consistent run-scorer, but he finished the series as England's leading run-scorer and a major reason that they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2. He memorably crashed the first ball of the series through cover-point for four, and his 189 off 182 at Old Trafford was an innings for the ages. He was again England's top-scorer on their tour to India in early 2024, and finally looked to have cracked Test cricket, only for a tortured series in New Zealand - 52 runs in six innings, dismissed by Matt Henry in all six - to bring him crashing back down to earth. Even still, England persisted with him, trusting him to come good in their biggest series.

Crawley's limited-overs opportunities were sporadic, and relied on others' absences: he scored an unbeaten half-century on ODI debut for a Covid-depleted squad against Pakistan in 2021, and captained a second-string team against Ireland two years later. He had most success at the BBL and SA20, but won a T20I call-up in 2025 after impressive form in the Blast for Kent and the Hundred for Northern Superchargers through the home summer.