Zak Crawley stars with classy 171 as England punish Pakistan on brilliant opening day

If you view cricket through a purely statistical prism, Zak Crawley as a Test top-order batsman ranks among England's most controversial recent selections.

When he was called up at the end of last summer, he averaged 31 in first-class cricket, and had scored under 2,000 runs. He had made just three centuries.

But there is a little more to selection than that. Sound judges in the south east were talking Crawley up three years before his call-up, for his rare ability – among English cricketers, at least – against quick bowling, especially short stuff, and a head level enough to ignore social media despite being in his early twenties.

Like David Gower and Marcus Trescothick years before, he was picked on what he could become rather than what he already was.

Crawley’s first seven Tests were bitty. In New Zealand, he got a surprise game at no6 when Jos Buttler got injured. In South Africa, he got three surprise games opening when Rory Burns got injured. And this summer at home, he did well at no4 so was moved to no3, then left out for two matches.

Back because Ben Stokes was unavailable, he started this week with an assured 53, his third half-century in Tests. Well, he has ended the week with a maiden Test century that has vindicated England’s faith in him – not to mention put them in a very strong position in the final Test of the summer.

At stumps they were 332 for four. Crawley’s hundred was already a daddy: he is 171 not out overnight (his highest first-class score), with Jos Buttler on 87. By the end of the day, those two had put on 205 and were having a whole lot of fun against a Pakistan side that had become ragged.

In the first over with the new ball, Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled three no balls, and square-leg let a Crawley flick through his legs for four. After five torrid, torrentially wet days in the second Test, this was a magnificent day for England.

Across those first seven Tests, Crawley had showed that he has a game that can work on the bouncy pitches of South Africa and when it is doing a bit in England. On the aborted tour of Sri Lanka, he made a century in a warm-up match that eventually lost its first-class status, suggesting he had a method against spin, too.

There was a bit of all that on display as he put Pakistan’s attack to the sword. Having come to the crease after Afridi got Burns out for the third time, he drilled his first ball through square leg for four and made an extremely busy start that saw him take 45 from his first 46 balls, including some crisp pulling and driving. Scoring can look simple when you have all the shots.

Before lunch, Crawley had to rein it in, when Yasir Shah trapped the advancing Dom Sibley lbw after a sprightly stand of 61. His half-century eventually came from his 80th ball, the last before lunch, which was driven beautifully through mid-off for four.

In the afternoon session, Joe Root took the lead, dominating their stand of 41 until he got a beauty from Naseem Shah that just did enough to take the edge. In a flash, Ollie Pope was caught on the crease to Yasir Shah for the second time this week, and England were wobbling on 127 for four.

Out came Buttler, who, like Crawley, might feel he has statistical wrongs to right. By tea, when Crawley had 97, they had already shared 57. Things had calmed for England with sensible, calculated batting.

That period of consolidation allowed them some great fun in a wicketless evening session. Crawley began it by advancing to Mohammad Abbas to bring up his maiden century (and the first by an England N]no3 at home since 2016) with a punched two through the covers. He celebrated with a kiss of the badge, and cracked on.

There were more pulls and cuts, and when Yasir went round the wicket to negate his scoring, he reverse-swept. It was classy, clever batting.

Buttler had already plonked Yasir down the ground for a pair of sixes and he drove well straight, and through cover – as he did to Naseem in the final over of the day. Having made it to stumps, he and Crawley could make England’s strong position impregnable.

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