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BCCI President and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has lauded Zak Crawley’s magnificent efforts at the Ageas Bowl after the Kent-lad piled up a humongous double century against Pakistan in the third Test.
Crawley scored 267 before falling prey to an innocuous delivery from Asad Shafiq, and also became the youngest English batsman after Len Hutton and David Gower to register a double hundred in Test cricket.
His 359-run stand with Jos Buttler, who scored an impressive 152, is the highest ever fifth-wicket partnership for England.
Ganguly took to Twitter to express his admiration for Crawley and wished that the right-hander gatecrash the English squad in the remaining two formats as well.
Ganguly praises Crawley:
“England have found a very good no 3 in Crawley,” Ganguly tweeted. “Looks a class player .. hope to see him in all formats regularly,” he added.
England have found a very good no 3 in Crawley.. looks a class player .. hope to see him in all formats regularly @nassercricket @ECB_cricket
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) August 22, 2020
An innings of absolute class, the 22-year-old lad might have solved the much-debated No.3 conundrums for the English Team. Now, England captain Joe Root could shift back to his preferred No. 4 position.
Crawley was included only after Ben Stokes missed the last two Tests owing to some personal reasons. In his last match as number three batsman, Crawley registered figures of 0 and 11, prompting Root to occupy that position.
However, with this knock, he has undoubtedly made that position his own, at least for the next couple of series.
Anderson’s spell leaves Pakistan in tatters:
As far as the match is concerned, Pakistan had nearly lost its grip after a woeful second day when nothing really seemed to work for the tourists.
After Crawley and Buttler departed, England’s tail-enders joined the fun and propelled their team to a mammoth total of 583/8 before Root declared the innings.
James Anderson, the 38-year-old virtuoso, then decided to silence his critics and unfurled a range of tricks with a shiny Dukes’ ball, reducing the visitors to 24-3 at the stumps on Day 2.
