Left Arm Around

So after all the chatter around whether Zak Crawley will retain his place, despite an awful tour of New Zealand and shaky start to the County Championship, it seems the trust and somewhat stubbornness of Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum have seen him selected once more. Durham youngster Ben McKinney has been pigeonholed as a potential replacement after his flamboyant approach caught the eye of England’s selectors, but it always seemed unlikely that they would move on from Crawley given the bumper year of international cricket ahead.

Although the 27-year-old has proven to be wildly inconsistent and often skittish in his 53 Tests to date, averaging just a shade over 30, the clear mentality of those in the England camp is that Crawley’s incredible knocks (picture that blistering189 against Australia in Manchester) more than make up for his obvious shortcomings. It would also be very unfair to throw someone like McKinney into the lion’s den and expect him to succeed against India at home and then Australia in the cauldron of an away Ashes series. Many a batter has tried and failed to do well down under in recent memory, yet there is a strong feeling that Crawley in particular raises his game against stronger opposition. And the stats would support that. One of the few highlights of last year’s disastrous 3-1 defeat in India was Crawley’ run-scoring, while the drawn Ashes in 2023 saw him plunder 480 runs at an average of 53- including that stunning knock at Old Trafford which nearly took England to victory. What was most impressive about his contributions in that series, however, was the manner in which he dominated a world-class attack. Not only was he consistent, but struck runs at a strike rate touching almost 89- enabling England to move games on much faster. It is likely that these traits have saved Crawley from the axe, despite many questioning why he continues to be given chances when others before him have not. The next 12 months could just about define his Test career.

As for Shoaib Bashir, who has endured a somewhat nightmare start to his loan spell at Glamorgan, there’s another growing feeling that England’s selectors are illustrating blind faith and loyalty to a bowler that is flattering to deceive. Bashir was famously plucked from obscurity when a viral video of him dismissing Sir Alastair Cook caught the eye of Ben Stokes and was shared in a WhatsApp group chat with Rob Key, allowing him to play experience international cricket with only six first-class matches and 10 wickets to his name. He demonstrated great promise and temperament on his debut tour of India with 17 wickets in three Tests, before claiming a brilliant fifer against West Indies at Trent Bridge later in the summer. However, the concerning decline ever since makes you wonder whether he needs to go away and improve his game away from the bright lights and immense scrutiny of Test cricket. To simply bowl and get more overs under his belt.

Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson continues to be ignored despite his consistent record with bat and ball, and Jack Leach is shunned while being the preferred option to Bashir at Somerset, however maybe it’s time to reconsider and change tact. Consistency of selection has been one of the strengths of the Bazball era thus far, but there’s certainly no harm in tweaking.

There’s a 17-year-old by the name of Farhan Ahmed potentially waiting in the wings. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough. The recent story of Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the IPL illustrates that perfectly….