Zak Crawley smashed a sublime 189 against Australia to put England firmly in control of the fourth Ashes Test as Ben Stokes’ men hope to level the series 2-2
Zak Crawley caressed his way into Ashes folklore with a sparkling hundred to put Australia to the sword and drive England towards their dream of an Oval finale.
And as the man backed most deeply and convincingly by the twin Test pioneers Ben Stokes and Baz McCullum, Crawley repaid their faith in the most emphatic way with 189 barnstorming runs to help set up their push for victory. If you had asked Alexa, Siri or Google to âshow me Bazball’ last week there is a good chance they would have loaded a clip of Jonny Bairstow or maybe even Stokes to explain the phenomenon.
But this innings from Crawley was the epitome of what it has all been about, under huge pressure and against the very best bowlers in the game, to play with such freedom and be successful in an entertaining way. There were a few slices of luck when it came to streaky inside and outside edges, but there were also 21 fours and three sixes in Crawley’s knock, and barely any of them were struck without an echo of âshot!’ reverberating around the ground.
And yet for all the aesthetic beauty attached to the 25-year-old’s strokeplay, it was impactful because it did most to take his team to 384-4 and a lead of 67 by the close of day two – with the threat of serious rain over the weekend very much the stalking horse in this game.