Zak Crawley made a statement in the ongoing fourth Test against India as he scored 84 runs on the 2nd day of the Test match. But after the game he opened up about the Lord’s test incident where Crawley and his partner Ben Duckett were engaged in a heated argument with India’s captain Shubman Gill and his team.
Gill, told Crawley to “grow some f***ing balls” after he successfully ran the clock down on the third evening at Lord’s. The two then swore at each other in a furious argument. Crawley dismissed Gill’s accusation that England had violated “the spirit of the game” in an attempt to rekindle animosity between the two teams.
“I’ve always enjoyed that part of cricket, to be honest, especially when you’re batting,” he said. “There’s two of you against eleven and they’re desperate to get you out, and they’re chirping you.
“Most of the time, I’d probably let it slide, and then other times, I feel like it’s a good chance to put it back on them. I loved that little eight-minute passage. No-one stepped over the line. I thought everyone was in good spirits. It was just competitive cricket, and I really enjoyed it.”
Asked whether he had intentionally arrived at the crease late, as Gill suggested, Crawley said: “No, no. Not at all. I sit in my spot [in the dressing room] until the umpires go out. I saw the umpires go, and I walked out. I wasn’t aware that we were 90 seconds late, but fair enough.”
Crawley’s 84 on Thursday was his second half-century of the series and came after scores of 19, 0, 18 and 22 in the second and third Tests. It was Crawley’s highest score against World Test Championship opposition ever since he scored 189 against Australia two years ago.
“I have high standards for myself, and I work very hard in my game,” he said. “I always want more for myself, and I’ve certainly wanted more for myself than I’ve got in the last year or so. That’s just an internal thing. I don’t feel that pressure from anyone else.
“I just feel like I owe it to myself to have a few more good performances. Days like today make the practice and the tougher times worth it a bit more. Obviously, I wanted more runs today, but I feel like I’ve worked hard and earned those runs.”
“Sometimes you’re looking for something a little bit too much… It looks too aggressive, but in my mind, actually, I was like, ‘Too half-hearted.’ I was pleased today that when it was there to hit, I put my hands through it.”
Crawley eventually fell to Ravindra Jadeja, well caught by KL Rahul at slip, after adding 166 for the first wicket with Ben Duckett. It was their fifth 100-run wicket stand and he absolutely loved batting with Duckett.
“He’s a phenomenal player and he takes a lot of pressure off me,” Crawley said.
“He scores at a run-a-ball effortlessly, and it allows you to go about your business. We talk a lot in the middle about how we want to go about it, and obviously our height difference – and being left-right-hand – probably makes it quite hard for the bowlers at times, when we’re both going well at either end.”
