Zak Crawley

Zak Crawley (born 3 February 1998) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club.

He plays Test cricket for the England cricket team and has captained England in One Day Internationals.

He made his Second XI debut for the county in 2013 aged 15 and signed his first professional contract with the club at the end of the 2015 season during which he had become a regular Second XI player and was selected for the England Elite Player Development for London programme.

During the 2016–17 English winter, Crawley played Western Australian Grade Cricket for Wembley Districts.

Crawley made his senior debut for Kent in the 2017 Royal London Cup against Essex at Canterbury on 17 May 2017.

He made his first-class debut for Kent against the touring West Indians on 6 August 2017 during the 166th Canterbury Cricket Week, scoring 62 runs in his debut first-class innings before going on to make his County Championship debut for the county at the end of the same month.

After playing in four Championship matches for the county during the tail-end of the season, he signed a contract extension with Kent in October 2017.

Crawley was part of the Kent squad for the 2017–18 Regional Super50 competition in the West Indies in early 2018.

He scored his maiden List A cricket half century in Kent's opening match of the competition against Guyana, scoring 60 runs as an opening batsman, before going on to score 99 not out against the Leeward Islands in the county's third match of the tournament.

The match ended in controversial circumstances with the opposing Leeward Islands bowling wide balls in what was seen by some as an attempt to deny Crawley the opportunity to reach his century.

During the 2018 season, Crawley became a regular in the Kent side, playing in all of the team's first-class matches as well as occasional limited overs games.

He was Kent's third highest run scorer in the County Championship with 755 runs scored at an average of 31.46 runs per innings.

After twice being dismissed in the 90s, he scored his maiden first-class century in the final home match of the season, making 168 against Glamorgan at Canterbury in September and signed a contract extension at the end of the season before playing New South Wales Grade cricket during the 2018/19 winter.

Playing for Sydney Cricket Club, he set a new record for the fastest century scored in the competition, making 100 from 42 balls in the T20 Cup against Sutherland District Cricket Club.

Crawley was drafted by London Spirit for the inaugural season of The Hundred, but only featured once, scoring 64 as an opening batsman in a loss to Birmingham Phoenix.

Crawley was retained by the Lord's-based side for the 2022 season.

He played for Hobart Hurricanes in the 2022–23 Big Bash League, scoring a half-century on debut in his first appearance in an overseas franchise league.

Although averaging less than 35 runs per innings in county cricket in 2018 and 2019, Crawley was seen as a potential international batsman.

Crawley made his international debut for England in November 2019 in the second Test match of England's tour of New Zealand.

Following a series of good batting performances at the start of the 2019 season, including scoring two centuries, Crawley made his England Lions debut in a four-day match against an Australian XI in July at Canterbury, the first time he had played for any England side.

He scored 820 County Championship runs during the season and, in September 2019, was named in the England cricket team's Test match squad for their 2019/20 tour of New Zealand, one of four uncapped players included in the squad for the tour.

After scoring a century in a warm-up match, Crawley was brought into the team for the second Test following an injury to Jos Buttler, making his debut at Seddon Park on 29 November aged 21.

After scoring only one run on debut, batting at number 6, he was retained in the squad for the tour of South Africa in December and January.

Following an injury to opening batsman Rory Burns, Crawley made his second Test appearance in the second Test against South Africa, this time opening the batting.

His "excellent temperament" and "unflustered" approach were praised as was his bravery against short-pitched bowling, although some technical issues with his batting were also commented on.

He made scores of 4 and 25 in the match, but also took two "vital" catches during the final innings of the match.

He went on to play in the remaining two matches of the series, scoring his first Test half-century in the final match.

Following a score of 267 runs in 2020, he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 2021 edition of the almanack.

Crawley's mentor is former Kent captain Rob Key; Key was appointed as Director of Men's Cricket by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2022.

Crawley was born in Bromley in south-east London and was educated at New Beacon School in Sevenoaks and Tonbridge School; his father Terry is a retired City of London futures trader who had begun his working life as a carpet fitter, before becoming one of Britain's highest-paid men and making the Sunday Times Rich List following his change of profession.

Crawley has represented Kent from under-11 level onwards, is a graduate of the Kent Cricket Academy and played club cricket for Holmesdale Cricket Club, Knockholt Cricket Club and Sevenoaks Vine.

Crawley signed a three-year contract extension with Kent in March 2020.

In May, he was named in a group of 55 players to begin training ahead of international fixtures during the COVID-19 pandemic and in June was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the Test series against the West Indies.

He played in the first two Tests of the summer, scoring 76 in the second innings of the first Test to increase his Test match highest score, before playing in the second Test against Pakistan in August, scoring a half-century in a rain-affected match.

He went on to make his maiden Test century in the following match, his eighth Test match, scoring 171 not out on the first day, passing his previous best first-class score in the process.

On the second day of the match, Crawley went on to score 267 runs before being stumped, an innings which included a new England fifth wicket record partnership of 359 runs with Jos Buttler.

Crawley's 267 became the second-highest maiden century scored by an England batsman in Test cricket, behind R. E. Foster's 287, and he became the third-youngest double centurion for England.

Crawley's performances during 2020 led to him being named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 2021 edition of the almanack.

Crawley is a top-order batsman who has been described as "very strong" technically and as a "natural stroke maker".

Crawley's long-standing mentor is former Kent captain Rob Key.