England tour of West Indies
Zak Crawley played a classy knock to hit his second Test century in Antigua, helping England get into a comfortable position against the West Indies before rain ended play on the fourth day of the First Test.
Image credit: pia.images.co.uk England's Zak Crawley was impressive against the West IndiesHe capitalised on his unbeaten 117 on a rather lifeless Antigua pitch as part of a 193-ball partnership with Joe Root, who, on the other hand, reached 84 not out at the close.
Top-order batter Crawley had gone 21 innings without reaching triple figures since an astonishing 267 against Pakistan in August 2020. Apart from this, he only reached 50 in two of the 21 innings played. With his second Test century, he finally accomplished 1,000 Test runs and hauled his average back to above 30.
On hitting his century, Crawley said, “It means an awful lot. It’s been a while since my last one and there were times last year when I didn’t think I’d get another. We are going to try and win the Test match. It’s something we’ll discuss but I think we’ll want a minimum of 65-70 overs at them.”
Having found his place in the team after averaging 10.81 in his first eight Tests of the year, the self-belief that Crawley will have gleaned is immeasurable.
"When I got taken out the team they said I had a big future which I was very thankful for," Crawley said. "It gave me a lot of confidence. I was thankful they picked me for the Ashes, it's a dream come true. I always believed in myself that I would come again. Maybe not so soon, but I knew I was young and I had a chance to come again."
The legendary Sir Viv Richards hailed Zak Crawley, saying he is “a magnificent player” and even urging England to give the 24-year-old time to flourish;
England will resume on the final day 153 runs ahead, with Crawley unbeaten on 117* and Root 16-runs away from his 24th Test century. It’s likely that the Test will end up in a draw.