ZAK TO THE FUTURE

Crawley eyes long-term partnership with Ben

- GIDEON BROOKS

ZAK CRAWLEY hopes his ‘little and large’ partnership with Ben Duckett can set the tone for England for years to come – starting with India next January.

England’s openers were an instant hit together in Pakistan, scoring 233 at Rawalpindi on their first outing in tandem last December.

And after a superb Ashes campaign from the two, which he started by crashing the first ball through the covers for four, 6ft 5in Crawley believes he and his 5ft 7in opening partner (below) can drop an anchor at the top of England’s order for the foreseeable future.

“I was trying to leave a statement out there,” said Crawley of that Edgbaston boundary, the first of his 480 runs in the series. “I like to get off to a good start and put them under pressure.