England Ashes hero Steve Harmison has come out in defence of opener Zak Crawley following his dreadful start to the series in Perth – and defended the tourists over their preparation
Steve Harmison has urged Zak Crawley to stick to his guns in the second Ashes Test, despite his failures in Perth.
Crawley made ducks in both innings as England began the series disastrously Down Under. The opening batter lasted just 11 balls as Mitchell Starc dismissed him inside the first over in both innings.
His loose shots were symptomatic of England’s shocking batting as they were rolled over inside two days. But 2005 Ashes hero Harmison believes Crawley has enough about him to cope with the pressure when the second Test begins in Brisbane next week.
“Are there better players than Zak Crawley in this country? People will argue yes,” Harmison said on behalf of Grosvenor Sport, official sponsors of England cricket on TNT Sport. “The beauty about Zak, and why I like Zak, is I think he’s got a very good temperament, I really do.
“If Zak Crawley gets two ducks, I still think if there’s a half-volley on offer from Starc with the first ball at the Gabba, he’ll still try and belt it for four. And I’d want him to. I’d encourage him to do that. Yes, he has got out in ways which make you think ‘what on earth is he doing?’
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“But I’d much rather have him still trying to hit the ball, because when he does get you off to a good start, boy, he puts the opposition under pressure. So that, for me, far outweighs him nicking off again for 0. Go and be aggressive. Go and take the bowler on.
“Because when you come off, with his little mate Ben Duckett at the other end, England 100-0 or 100-1 at lunch and putting pressure on Australia, that’s what we want. If he goes into his shell, you might as well pick somebody else.”
Crawley got England off to dreadful starts in both innings in Perth, but the middle order were also culpable as they squandered a commanding position at lunch on day two. Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Harry Brook all fell chasing wide balls and Harmison thinks they should learn from Travis Head’s success after the Aussie batter smashed 123 off 83 balls to win the game.
“I don’t think they should be changing their game mentally,” he said. “Mentally they should still be trying to be aggressive. But there’s two ways of being aggressive.
“Head was aggressive and he hit the ball square and behind square, both on the offside and legside. And the only time he hit the ball down the ground was when it was right under his nose, nearly a Yorker length, and he wasn’t pushing at it – he was punching at the ball.
“England don’t need to change the mental approach of being aggressive, just their execution of shot and their selection of shot. I hope Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are drumming that into the team.
“We don’t want to take anything away from their ability to hit the ball, be aggressive and try and score five-plus runs an over. But there are areas where, from a risk point of view, you have to shut it down in Australia.”
Harmison also believes that England can’t afford to rest Jofra Archer or Mark Wood and must go all guns blazing in Brisbane to level up the Ashes. He believes the five fast bowler approach can work in the second Test after Wood and Archer played alongside Stokes, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson in Perth.
“I’d keep the same team, tell them: you got us into it, you go and get us out of it,” Harmison said. “We believed you were the best XI for the first Test. We still believe you’re our best team. Go and put it right.”
Wood and Archer have both struggled with injuries, but the shambolic first Test has at least ensured plenty of rest between matches. England opted not to send any of their Perth XI to Canberra to play against the Prime Minister’s XI this weekend.
Harmison believes that was the right call and branded ex-players who criticised the decision “hypocrites” because the conditions at the Manuka Oval won’t reflect those that await at The Gabba.
“It’s one of these decisions where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you go and your player gets knocked over, it makes it worse,” he said. “If you go and your player hits a few out of the middle and you’re crashing through extra cover… all of a sudden when you get to Brisbane and the ball bounces like it did at the Optus Stadium.”
The second Test, that starts on December 4, is a day/night match with a pink ball, adding another factor for the tourists to consider. “A lot of it will come down to when you have your bat in your hand or ball in your hand, so it’ll come down to the toss,” Harmison explained.
“It’s crucial, massive. If you can get in control of the contest and the decision-making early on day one, that makes your job a lot easier going into the rest of the Test match. You can control when you declare and force the opposition to bat in difficult situations, like against the new ball in swinging conditions, when the natural light is going down and the artificial lights take over.
“It won’t bounce as high or as severe as the Optus Stadium, but it will bounce a lot more than Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.”
