England "don't necessarily look for consistency" from Zak Crawley

GEORGE DOBELL AT LORD'S: Assistant coach Paul Collingwood says faith will continue to be shown in the Kent opener to "do special things" after he failed to reach double figures for the ninth time in the last 13 Test innings against South Africa

Zak Crawley should not be thought of as a consistent player, but as a match-winner capable of achieving "special things", according to Paul Collingwood.

Crawley fell for nine on the first day of the LV= Insurance series against South Africa at Lord's meaning he has now gone 13 Test innings without a half-century. On nine of those occasions, he has failed to reach double-figures. 

But while Collingwood, one of England's assistant coaches, admitted Crawley would be "frustrated" by his lack of runs, he insisted the management's confidence in his ability remained undimmed.

In particular, he provided a reminder that it was only a Test ago that Crawley helped post a century opening stand to help England achieve a testing run-chase at Edgbaston and that his ability as a stroke-maker was able to damage the opposition in a way few other candidates could match.

"The messaging is very clear with Zak," Collingwood said. "We don't necessarily look for consistency with Zak. 

Zak Crawley: Test batting stats since January 2021

Innings: 35

Runs: 657

Average: 18.77

Top-score: 121

Strike rate: 52.06

"It's about match-winning performances and being able to do special things. 

"One innings ago he had a hundred partnership against India to [help us] chase down over 350. We don't forget about those contributions in our dressing-room and they are huge contributions to winning games of cricket. He's got a lot of talent, we know that. 

"I'm sure he's frustrated he's not getting more runs but certainly in the dressing room ourselves we're confident he can turn things around and have those match-winning contributions."

Collingwood also sought to justify England's aggressive approach. While accepting the batters were "not always going to get it 100 per cent right," he insisted they were right to try to hit the bowlers off their length in challenging conditions. And he had particular praise for Ollie Pope who held England together with a half-century. 

"Everyone's clear about how we're going to go about our batting," Collingwood said. "That's not going to change.

^{Paul Collingwood insisted England approach is not about to change (Steve Bardens/Getty Images)}

"The one thing when you're on wickets with lots of assistance is, you don't want the bowler to think he can put it in the same area and get results. You're going to have to try and find ways to get them to change lengths, knowing that if they do miss their lines and lengths they're going to be punished. 

"We're not always going to get it 100% right. But I thought at times today we soaked up pressure and at times we put it back on the bowlers. To lose a wicket before lunch the ball before lunch hurt us quite badly.

"But we've been in this position before. And I thought Ollie Pope was fantastic today. Our mantra is about trying to put the opposition under pressure and he did that brilliantly today.

"I thought he was composed, he looked busy at the crease and on a wicket that was giving them quite a lot of assistance he got us into a position at the end of the day's play where we're not necessarily out of the game. He's batted exceptionally well and shown a lot of skill."

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