Ashes: Not many positives for England, but Crawley can 'seriously play', says Vaughan
Jan 09, 2022
Sydney [Australia], January 9 : Former England captain Michael Vaughan on Sunday said that opening batter Zak Crawley can seriously play and he needs to be given a consistent run in the Three Lions squad.
Vaughan's remarks came as Crawley impressed one and all with his 77-run knock in the second innings of the ongoing fourth Ashes Test here at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
"Zak Crawley can seriously play ... Not many positives from this Tour but he is certainly one who needs to be given a long run in this Test team," tweeted Vaughan.
To this tweet, former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody replied: "I'd agree with you, once you identify young talent they need the opportunity to grow into test cricket, Ollie Pope is the other."
Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, and Cameron Green got among the wickets as Australia need seven more wickets to win the fourth Ashes Test. At the lunch break, England's score read 122/3, still needing 266 runs for the win. Joe Root (13*) and Ben Stokes (16*) are present at the crease for the Three Lions.
Resuming Day 5 at 30/0, openers Haseeb Hameed and Zak Crawley managed to add 16 more runs to the total before Hameed (9) was sent back to the pavilion by Scott Boland. Dawid Malan next came out to the crease and along with Crawley, he put on 28 runs for the second wicket.
However, this partnership was cut short by Nathan Lyon as he bowled Malan (4), reducing England to 74/2 in the 28th over. Skipper Joe Root then joined Crawley in the middle and both batters stitched together a stand of 22 runs for the third wicket, but Cameron Green got the crucial wicket of Crawley (77) before the lunch break.
In the end, Root and Stokes ensured that England does not lose more wickets before the lunch break.
