Top grounding Down Under has Zak looking up

SYDNEY Cricket Club’s alumni is an impressive one.

- Richard Edwards

But, by the time he has called time on his career, it’s likely that Zak Crawley’s name will feature near the top of a list that already includes Michael Slater, Mike Gatting, and Graham Thorpe.

Crawley’s performances against Pakistan – in particular his epic innings of 267 in the third and final Test of a rain-ravaged series – have suddenly thrust the Kent man onto the global stage.

And his mastery of Pakistan’s bowling attack at the Ageas Bowl suggests he’ll remain there for some time to come – much to the delight of Michael Haire, the Sydney coach who picked him up from the airport and then saw Crawley’s game take flight Down Under back in 2018/19.

“A very, very impressive young man,” he tells The Cricket Paper. “And someone whose smile never left his face.”

The Crawley grin was very much in evidence for England in the four Tests he played this summer, and it’s little wonder given his run-scoring feats.

The 22-year-old will look back on an extraordinary few months of cricket, his one regret doubtless being that no supporters were allowed to enter the ground to see him become the third youngest double centurion in English Test history.

That doesn’t mean he was short of people willing him on, though.