England batter Zak Crawley is the latest to engage in a war of words during the Ashes. After a defeat in Birmingham, he is another English player who has laid emphasis on entertainment over winning. Crawley is clear that the team won’t compromise on their approach despite not starting the series in the way they planned.
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Earlier former captain Joe Root also said that he regrets not using a similar approach during his captaincy tenure. Even coach Brendon McCullum was proud of the way the English team played in the first match. Former South African captain AB de Villiers defined Bazball as sensible cricket which is result oriented.
Crawley has been an important figure as an opener in the last year as he has adapted to the system very convincingly. He started the first Ashes Test in Birmingham with a boundary to set the tone of the tournament.
Zak Crawley Makes A Bold Claim Ahead of Lord’s Ashes Test
Talking to Times Radio, Crawley has made a bold claim about the Lord’s Test. He has predicted that the hosts will win by a margin of over 150 runs. The English team is not even thinking about the loss in Birmingham and aims to entertain the fans instead of looking at the results.
“I think the pitch will suit us a bit more so I think we’ll win by, I don’t know, 150 runs?”
“We’re not about results. We’re not about winning or losing, we’re about entertainment. That’s why we took [this loss] better than other losses perhaps, because it was great for the game.”
Winning the Ashes is England’s main priority and they are confident about getting the results in their favour. They have not lost a single series after Ben Stokes‘ appointment as the new captain of the side. The rest of the four matches are expected to be thrillers.
Zak Crawley Performance Under Bazball
There have been a lot of calls regarding dropping Crawley in the past. His numbers have not been that great as well but he has been able to give those brisk starts. Under Stokes, he has scored 791 runs at an average of 29.29, whereas his strike rate has been 69.81.
Crawley’s strike rate under Root was just 53.61, so he has improved in that aspect of the game. Surprisingly, he has smashed just one six in his whole Test career and that was in Root’s captaincy. Looking at Crawley confidence, he may hit one at Lord’s.
