If you take the temperature of English cricket fandom right now following the 336-run hammering by India at Edgbaston there is one man who is taking most of the heat – Zak Crawley.
The opener wasn’t alone in having a poor Test match in Birmingham.
Indeed, he was just one of seven English batters to be dismissed for a duck.
But the evidence of a 56-Test career is stacking up against Crawley and despite all the backing he has received through thick and, mostly, thin from the Bazball regime, it is coming to the point now where something surely has to give.
Social media can be a cruel place and flicking through it on Monday morning, you could take your pick of memes ridiculing Crawley.
A NIGHTMARE start for England as Zak Crawley falls for a duck! pic.twitter.com/L8ziKPGt8i
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 5, 2025England head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes won’t care one jot what the internet trolls are saying.
Yet they might listen to the former England captains who are now queuing up to criticise a player who has 42 single-figure scores across 102 Test innings and whose average of 30.33 at the top of the order is the lowest of any opener to have scored 2,500 Test runs.
Nasser Hussain kicked things off on Saturday evening during his post-match analysis on Sky Sports after Crawley had played a dreadful shot to be dismissed for a seven-ball duck by Mohammed Siraj at a time when England were looking to save the game.
Hussain was left perplexed by Crawley’s decision to change to an off-stump guard for the second Test having lined up India’s seamers well during his second-innings 65 at Headingley that proved crucial to England chasing down 371.
“I don’t understand why he has changed his guard, as that leads to him playing at deliveries wide outside off stump,” Hussain said.
“He played so well in the second innings at Headingley; I don’t understand why he’d do that.”
The England opener is enduring an extended spell of poor form (Photo: Getty)Two big hitters in their respective Telegraph columns then piled in.
Michael Vaughan lamented that Crawley is probably the most frustrating player he has seen play for England, adding: “And in my time watching, playing for and covering England, he is the player luckiest to have won so many caps.”
Geoffrey Boycott went further, calling for Crawley to be dropped and replaced by Jacob Bethell for this week’s third Test at Lord’s.
“I don’t think he can change or get better,” he said.
“His faults in technique and thinking are ingrained. He should be approaching his best years but in 56 Tests he has learned nothing.
“One sparkling innings and numerous failures, with an average of 31, is not good enough.”
Bethell is relevant here. The 21 year old is waiting in the wings after a superb debut Test series in New Zealand last winter. He simply has to be in England’s top six by the time the Ashes start in November.
Ollie Pope looked the most at risk at the start of the summer in terms of players who might make way for Bethell. But despite a poor Test at Edgbaston, where he looked skittish once again, he averages 42.39 at No 3 during the Bazball era and is England’s vice-captain.
Crawley is the man in the firing line right now. England persevered with him because of his good record against India and Australia but he is averaging 22 after two Tests of this series.
square CRICKET Ben Stokes cost England this Test
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McCullum and Stokes have painted themselves into a corner by backing him so forcefully over the years.
They have invested so much in Crawley that to drop him now would be an admission of failure.
Yet despite occasional flashes of brilliance such as his 189 against Australia at Old Trafford two years ago, he has just five hundreds in 56 Tests – a hit rate of one every 20 innings.
They believe he will play a major role in Australia this winter and although he had a fine 2023 Ashes, averaging 53.33, there is no guarantee he will do well this winter on the spicier pitches that Australia have introduced in recent years.
Dropping him now and breaking up a successful opening partnership with Ben Duckett would be a huge gamble.
But it is one England should seriously consider with this series against India on the line heading into this week at Lord’s.
Bethell would be the least disruptive choice to come in and partner Duckett, although it would see two left-handers at the top of the order.
Moving Pope up one place to preserve the left-right combination would not be ideal considering his record at No 3.
And Bethell batted as a virtual opener alongside Duckett in New Zealand anyway given Crawley averaged 8.66 in that series. It worked then, so why not try it again?
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