Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey

Analysing the technical issues of Zak Crawley | Looking at why Zak Crawley has struggled at Test level: an analysis of his technique

Regarded as one of England’s very promising talents, Zak Crawley came to the English Test side along with other young players during their transition period. He was initially tried as an opener and eventually went on to impress everyone by playing a marathon knock of 267 batting at number three against Pakistan in the summer of 2020.

But, things have gone horribly wrong for the youngster since. The left arm orthodox spinners bossed him in the twin tours of Sri Lanka and India in the subcontinent. Further, he was found to be clueless against the potent fast bowling attacks of New Zealand and India recently at home. As a result, Haseeb Hameed replaced him in the second Test against India.

There are certain technical issues with Crawley that have been central to his struggles. In this article, I am going to mention the reasons why he has found the going difficult against the fast bowlers, with analysis of his footwork both before the delivery is delivered and at point of impact. Here we go.

Lack of forward stride

Zak Crawley does not have a proper forward stride. Instead, he has a gentle trigger movement of the front foot. The trigger movement starts mostly when the bowler is about to deliver or just after it (image 1) and ends abruptly with the front foot facing cover/extra cover when the ball has travelled a certain distance (image 2).

In addition, and crucially, his back foot does not move at all (images 3 and 4). So, when he finishes his trigger movement, he comes into a certain position from where he can’t move either his front foot or back foot. Therefore, his feet are planted.

In such a position, if he gets a much fuller ball on the stumps, he just brings his bat down and makes connection with it (image 5). But, if he gets a delivery in the ideal length pitched on or around the off stump, he can’t cover the movement as his feet are already stuck. So, there exists a gap between his bat and pad. As a result, the ball finds the outside edge if it leaves him (image 6) and takes the inside edge (image 7) or traps him in front of the stumps if it nips back into him (image 8).

Similarly, if the bowler bowls a full delivery much outside the off stump inviting him for a drive, he accepts it by playing with hard hands away from his body as he can’t go towards the pitch of the ball and gets caught behind (images 9 and 10).

Crawley’s dismissals

In England’s series defeat against New Zealand in June 2021, Neil Wagner and Tim Southee made Crawley drive away from his body. He was dismissed thrice in this manner as his feet were planted, which prevented him to reach the pitch of the ball (images 4, 9 and 10).

In the second Test, Matt Henry was able to bring the ball back into him from a good length and trapped him in front of the stumps (image 8). In the first innings of the first Test against India, Siraj brought the ball back in and found his inside edge (image 7), while in the second innings Bumrah found the outside edge of his bat by taking the ball away from him (image 6).  

Why is Crawley vulnerable against short balls coming at high pace?

As I have already mentioned, he doesn’t move his back foot. Ideally, the front foot should press the body backwards while playing a rising short ball. But, in Crawley’s case, his front foot doesn’t press his body backwards and he uses only his height while playing these types of deliveries.

So, if the bowler doesn’t have great pace and doesn’t get enough bounce, he manages to pull the ball off the front foot (image 11). But in the opposite case, he doesn’t get enough time to react as his weight doesn’t get transferred to his back foot and finds himself in a very awkward position (image 12). Sometimes, his back foot completely leaves the ground while defending the short balls (image 13).

His only advantage is his height, but I don’t think he can survive only on the basis of that against the quick bumpers on tracks having pace and bounce. So his body will definitely be targeted by the bowlers sooner or later. That’s an additional disadvantage on his side.

These are the technical shortcomings I have found in Zak Crawley’s batting. He has age on his side and he definitely can work on these areas. I hope he makes a grand comeback with a more compact technique.

What are your thoughts?

Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.