Zak Crawley played a brilliant innings as England took control of the must-win fourth Ashes Test with a dominant performance on day two at Old Trafford.
Crawley’s aggression was relentless as he smashed the helpless Aussies for 189 runs from 182 as England took just 55 overs to seize control of the Test.
With the threat of bad weather looming, Crawley swung for the hills and hit 21 fours and three sixes to make a mockery of his 28.65 Test average.
He could hardly have picked a better moment to fulfil his potential and repay the faith that Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have shown in him.
Crawley started as he meant to go on, brushing the first ball of the innings off his hip for four, and refused to let Ben Duckett’s third-over dismissal knock him off course.
He weathered a couple of early scares, edging inches in front of slip on 12 and given out lbw on 20 before successfully calling for DRS, but held his nerve to reach the lunch break intact.
Australia could not figure out Crawley. A couple of inside edges narrowly missed his stumps, and more than one thick outside edge flew over the cordon, but even his mistakes went for runs.
When he did find his timing, he looked imperious. He showed Cameron Green the full face of his bat as he stroked elegantly down the ground, walked across his stumps to open up fine-leg and drove through cover with style.
He even made sure to hammer home Australia’s folly in leaving out a specialist spinner. When part-timer Travis Head took a turn, Crawley reverse swept his first ball for four and then stooped to launch the follow-up into the stands.
Moeen Ali came and went, scoring 54 runs to build a partnership of 121 with the immovable Crawley.
Joe Root slotted in seamlessly and stopped the visitors from claiming any momentum.
England took the lead in fitting style, Crawley stepping inside the line and blazing Marsh high over wide long-on for six.
The quickest double-hundred in Ashes history was beckoning when Crawley came to an abrupt end, dragging a short ball from Green back into his stumps.
He received a standing ovation as he departed, having once again demonstrated the mercurial skills that have made him a star of the Bazball era.
