Zak Crawley puts successful summer down to "learning to deal with pressure"

Despite criticism from some corners, England head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept faith in the opener, who repaid them as the leading run-scorer in the Ashes series

Joe Williams | 15/10/2023 at 11:37

Zak Crawley has revealed how his failures in international cricket has helped him deal with pressure and led him to thrive in England's Bazball ethos.

The 25-year-old opener is coming off a successful summer where he was one of the stars of England's drawn Ashes series with Australia.

One of the standout moments was the first ball of the series where Crawley set the tone for England's aggressive approach, smashing Pat Cummins for four.

However, Crawley's place in the team has not always been assured with the Kent batter struggling to find consistency prior to this year.

"You learn a lot form your failures obviously, and I have had plenty of failures in international cricket," he told Sky Sports.

"You kind of learn how to deal with pressure, at the start you put so much pressure on yourself, you feel the pressure from the outside, the media, everyone else wants you to do well.

"Then you slowly learn to get rid of those pressures and you get to a stage where you just play. That's where I got to this summer, finally."

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^{Crawley starred during the summer Ashes series (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)}

The summer of 2022 saw Crawley average 21.23 as he struggled in home Test series against New Zealand, India, and South Africa, losing his wicket for less than 10 runs on seven occasions.

Despite criticism from some corners, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept faith in the opener, who repaid them as the Ashes series' leading run-scorer.

"Last summer was a tough summer for me where I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to perform, to score runs, rather than just immerse myself in the moment and play the game in front of me. That's something you learn over time, with good leadership, and when you get backed.

"It's tough, before this year I would say every game, if I didn't do well I would think this could be my last game so the pressure builds on yourself to perform, that I would need to score now rather than just playing the way that's got you there, backing that aggressive game which is the reason you are being backed in the first place.

"With good leadership, and that being drilled into you all the time it helps, and then it gets to the point where you have to back yourself and play that way. It actually only comes after a period of failure when you go: 'I'm not doing this anymore, I'm going to do it my way.'"