Few have gifted wickets more generously than Zak... but he's a born Bazballer and you can't have your Test Match Special cake and eat it

IN a recent team huddle, Zak Crawley piped up with a yarn about a Chinese farmer. Obviously.

- ANDY DUNN

Apparently, this Chinese farmer lived his life by a Far Eastern proverb that, according to the listening Ben Stokes, went something like this.

"We don't know why things happen, if it's for good or not."

Fair enough.

But the same Chinese farmer has probably got a proverb more relevant to laid-back Zak.

"He who dances halfway down the track had better hit it."

The collective Lord's groan when Crawley's dreamy cameo at the start of the England batting effort came to a stumped ignominious end was a familiar sound to the opener's ears.

Crawley is 66 innings into his Test career and it is already hard to think of a more frustrating English player.

No one purposely gets out, but when it comes to gifting wickets, few have been as generous as Crawley.

Make no mistake, his run-a-ball 48 at Lord's helped set the platform for what could still be a very decent England total.