Zach Crowley's return to form is a good sign of England's Ashes ambitions. Credit: AP/Anjum Navid England's Ashes summer started on the right note. Zach Crowley, who scored 91 goals for Kent against Northamptonshire from 171, looked compact and controlled like never before.
The opening of the season is not the time for Baseball, whatever it is. Instead, Crowley played well in the midst of a slow serve and a wobbly ball and gave the impression to an appreciative audience of about 1,000 at the Spitfire Ground that he might enjoy the Ashes series that defines his career.
“The whole summer was on a roll played by Frank Woolley,” they said of Kent's greatest stylist. There were hints of spring in Crowley's pitch: signs that his game was beginning to take shape at the age of 25, after years of training on the job in England.
“I just tried to play every ball. basically, and they were very good at bowling, they didn't give us much to score. As I got into the game, I tried to go ahead and score a little faster. Sometimes when you need to do more, you need to score faster, you need to put a little more pressure on them. That's what we're trying to do in England, that's the style that England wants to play, so they want to see people in county cricket that can play that way.
“I think I naturally score pretty fast, it's my natural game. I think that's what I've been into lately. I was scoring fast after I had a period of slowness in the beginning, from 20 to 90 I must have had 75 shots I guess so I just have to wait a bit. Today was a good turnout and it's always a pleasure to score for Kent.»
After Kent took Northamptonshire's three remaining wickets, for a total of 117, the younger and reckless Crowley may have become flustered and attempted to run — across the field — before he could walk. Instead, like an old-fashioned rookie, he played himself: Gareth Berg, the line and extension player, beat the girl Crowley, who took one ball off his 10th ball to miss the target.
Tem however, there were still glimpses of a new path, or rather Benbol, because it was Ben Stokes who announced his mission statement before Brendon McCallum had even been interviewed for the England manager position.
Two of those outbursts were Berg shots through the middle when the ball was new and one from out of bounds. He did the same with Jack White, this time via midwicket.
Zach Crowley's sleeve length change and intent after lunch break 💥
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Those shots showed the bowlers who was in charge, that Crowley was just waiting for the pressure to shift to the bowling side. It was a good, sensible combination of ancient and modern methods, as Crowley took 44 balls in his first nine runs before picking up speed.
And sure enough, as soon as the Northerners pulled their Rob Keogh spinner, Crowley threw his first ball back four, and shortly thereafter, as usual, tossed four more, and used his legs until the spoon was removed. The Northants won the Canterbury Championship last summer with their spinners, so it had to be celebrated.
All in all, Crowley left the ball fairly early; he had good balance even when he hit on the Nuckington end, where the slope lures the batsman's head down the hill; and his position was more orthodox than at the end of last winter, when in the Wellington test he took guard on the stump or outside and did not seem to know where he was.
Due to the fact that the gates were regularly falling at the other end, and Crowley never had a platform from which to go on an all-out attack. But after reaching 32 out of 100 balls (his tryout speed is 58), he accelerated until he took the ball too hard on the stump to throw it to the side, and the leading edge gave extra cover to an easy catch.
Crowley deserves support from England's management, provided he maintains his own game and doesn't mess around in the middle of a series like he did in New Zealand; and if he sets himself up as the second miss and catches there, that will make his game more than one-dimensional. The opportunity should reassure him after scoring a brilliant 122 of 111 in the Rawalpindi Test last December, which saw England win with minutes to go but not 50 in the next four Tests.
When he does have his day, Crowley makes it much easier to hit the ball for those following him, keeping novice bowlers from pitching a new ball. In almost every episode he has such a day, not only last December in Pakistan. His 77 points against Australia in Sydney knocked them out of their sails. His 53 against India, on what became Bunsen at Ahmedabad, included 10 fours, some of which were great covers.
What could be a bolder statement from England on the first day of the upcoming Ashes than Crowley smashing Pat Cummins through cover when he pitches and Ben Duckett pulls or cuts whenever the Australian captain pitches short? All seat belts on the ground, including the England dressing room, must be fastened.
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