Crawley's struggle continues
England men's Test team head coach Brendon McCullum has indicated he is likely to keep faith in out-of-form opener Zak Crawley and field him in the second Test against South Africa at Manchester.
Crawley managed scores of nine and 13 in the series opener at Lord’s, in which South Africa thrashed England inside three days by an innings and 12 runs to take early lead in the series.
Crawley's struggle continues
Crawley is under immense pressure [Twitter]
This is not the only failure for the 24-year-old opener as Crawley averages 16.40 for England this summer, the lowest by any England opener in a home season, with a cut-off of 10 innings. Despite getting a dream start to his international career, the right-handed batter averages 26.06 from 26 Test matches, a figure that drops to 18.61 in 18 Tests since the start of 2021.
McCullum defends Crawley
"He's a talent, and there are not too many of those guys floating around. He's still learning his game at this level. That will take some patience and persistence. I believe in him, that's for sure. You have to think about the overall package. I look at a guy like Zak (Crawley) and his skillset is not to be a consistent cricketer. He's not that type of player. He's put in that situation because he has a game which, when he gets going, he can win matches for England," said Brendon McCullum.
Crawley's string of poor scores has seen several cricket experts calling for his axing and rightfully so.
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