Alastair Cook is done with Zak Crawley’s terrible batting form

image-l73obkdxZak Crawley contiunes his torrid peformance against South Africa as well (Twitter)

Zak Crawley has been testing the patience of England Test fans for quite some time now. Just like all the other people, former England captain Sir Alastair Cook is also pissed off with back-to-back torrid performances by the opening batter.

Crawley has been facing a run drought for the longest time now. There has been no significant performance by the batter that can provide him a cushion and secure his place in England’s Test squad.

The 24-year-old’s scores of nine and 13 runs in the first Test against South Africa have made his case strong for being dropped. With the poor performance, his average has also dropped to an embarrassing 16.40 this Summer.  

Constant backing doing more bad than good to the opening batter

Crawley has played a total of five matches in the ongoing season and ended up with just 164 runs. The opening batters’ overall stats in the longest format of the game are no better. In 26 Test matches for England, he has accumulated 1251 runs at an average of 26.06.

The consistently poor performance by the batter has made the cricket fraternity believe that Crawley needs to be dropped immediately from the team for his own good. He needs to go back to domestic cricket and prove his credentials to gain a place.

Alastair Cook is also against the long rope given to Crawley in the Test format. The veteran admitted that the 24-year-old is an exciting talent. However, he has not been able to translate his potential at the highest level.

Cook names an ideal replacement for Crawley

Describing about the English opener, Cook wrote

"He has got some world-class areas but I don't think he quite knows how he wants to play. What is telling too is that his first-class record is not blessed with big hundreds either, which suggests that he needs to re-evaluate which shots he wants to stick to, and how he's going to consistently score runs,” 

Meanwhile, the legendary cricketer has also given suggestions regarding who could potentially replace Crawley at the top. Cook has backed the right-hander batter Harry Brook to make the cut. The 23-year-old is yet to don the white jersey but he has delivered some noteworthy performances in the domestics.

While Cook didn’t seem much impressed with Brook’s numbers, he has faith in his talent and aggressive brand of cricket. In an ideal scenario, England should drop Crawley right away to make place for a better and worthy batter. However, the chances are dim as the 24-year-old is lucky to have strong backing from coach Brendon McCullum.

Also Read: Dominic Sibley focused on doing well in domestic cricket, amid England's top-orde failure