Half-Century on Debut

Cardiff – Zak Crawley scored a half-century on debut for England’s ODI team. In the first of three ODIs Zak’s 58 helped England to a comfortable 9 wicket win over Pakistan.

After a sticky-time in the recent Test series vs. New Zealand, Zak returned to Kent.

Putting the Test series behind him, Zak went on to score 218 runs (AVG. 40.14) in the Vitality Blast from just 7 matches.

When the ECB announced a new England ODI squad on Tuesday, Zak left Kent’s LV= Insurance County Championship match against Lancashire and joined the swiftly assembled squad.

With players in the original squad testing positive for COVID, the fresh 18 players, under the leadership of Ben Stokes, had just one training session before facing Pakistan.

In the opening encounter at Sophia Gardens Ben won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat.

The visitors were in trouble as early as the first ball, Saqid Mahmood trapping Imam-ul-Haq LBW. Two balls later Pakistan were 2-0, with Mahmood on his way to a Player of the Match performance of 4-42 off 10 overs.

All out for 141 in the thirty-sixth over, this was an underwhelming batting performance from Pakistan.

After the dismissal of Phil Salt (7) with the score on 22, Zak and Dawid Malan (68) saw England home within twenty-two overs.

Zak’s half-century on debut came off 44 balls and included 7 fours. Crucially for England, the Malan-Crawley partnership added a match winning 120 runs for the second wicket.

With the Test series vs. India on the horizon, Zak’s 58 runs off the Pakistan bowlers will act as a reminder of his value to England.