Zak Crawley looking forward to working with "positive coach" Brendon McCullum

The Kent batter is set to open the innings for England against New Zealand despite a slightly inauspicious start to the domestic season

Zak Crawley is hopeful that the appointment of "positive coach" Brendon McCullum as England's men's Test coach will help his game.

The Kent batter was speaking after making two timely half centuries in a run-soaked draw against Northamptonshire.

His selection in the squad for the start of the Test series against New Zealand raised some eyebrows, given his relative struggle for early-season runs at a time when many on the county circuit have been making the most of the mostly dry conditions and excellent pitches for batting.

Crawley's opening partner at Kent, Ben Compton, has enjoyed a remarkable start to his career at the county, scoring 878 runs in six matches.

By contrast, Crawley has made just 302 in 10 innings at an average of 30.2, which is only marginally lower than his overall record in first-class cricket. Almost half of them came last week at Wantage Road, where he made scores of 62 and 84.

"I've started to find a bit of rhythm, which is nice," he told the ECB Reporters Network afterwards. "I obviously haven't scored the runs I wanted to, but I feel in good rhythm now.

"Obviously today, it was a bit easier than the first innings, but I still struck the ball nicely, so I feel good about my game."

^{Crawley made half centuries in both innings against Northamptonshire (David Rogers/Getty Images)}

Against New Zealand, he looks set to reprise his opening partnership alongside Alex Lees – with Ollie Pope at No.3 – that was given its first airing in the Caribbean, where Crawley made a hundred in the first Test before struggling thereafter as England lost the three-match series.

"It's always nice being picked for England and I can't wait to get going with them," he added. "So, it fills me with a lot of energy, and maybe that's why I got a couple of runs this week.

"I'm excited about Brendon McCullum coming in. I love watching him play and I'm sure I'm going to love working with him as a coach. So, I think he might suit me actually, quite a positive coach, so I look forward to seeing if that is the case. But he's obviously a great character in the sport, and I'm looking forward to it.

"If I time my form well and I score runs in Test cricket, that will mean an awful lot to me. That's not to say I don’t want to score runs every time I go out to bat, and I've been disappointed that I haven't been able to help Kent as much as I'd have wanted to this year.

"But everyone knows Test cricket is the pinnacle and if I can get a hundred in the next couple of weeks, that might put the last few weeks right."