An innings of authoritative simplicity: Zak Crawley's coming of age... ENGLAND V PAKISTAN TALKING POINTS

The Cricketer looks back on all the talking points from the first day of the final Test between England and Pakistan

Zak Crawley's big day

There is no set formula for what makes a perfect Test hundred. Whatever works for each individual is the right answer; Dom Sibley’s combative runs count for just as many as Babar Azam’s languid grace.

But this from Zak Crawley was a benchmark: the kind of knock – still only eight games into his Test career – that announced an arrival. Chanceless, dominant, without any real strife.

In this side, he remains the junior player – the youngest member of Joe Root’s charges and the only player in this team still without a completely settled role. Until today, there was always a sense that he was on trial, that England were looking at ways of shoehorning others into his place ahead of him.

In his seven previous appearances, he has opened the batting, come in at No.3, batted at No.4 and made his debut at No.6. His self-improvement that has come with each Test has been somewhat in spite of his circumstances and the cards he's been dealt.

Having made his bow in New Zealand as an injury replacement for Jos Buttler, he was left out of England’s first Test against South Africa, only to then return when Rory Burns suffered his tour-ending injury in a squad football practice.

When this summer came, he was shunted down the order to accommodate Burns’ return; there was a score of 76 in the first Test against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl, followed by a quiet game in Manchester a week later. And then, with question marks surrounding Ben Stokes’ fitness to bowl, Crawley found himself out of the team. Not that he’d done much wrong, mind.

His response? As the second Test against Pakistan drifted towards a most painstaking rain-ruined draw, he helped himself to 53 on the final day. As it turned out, that was little more than a precursor.

Because this was different. It is often said that the first hundred is the hardest – a grind both physical and spiritual. But Crawley made this look so easy: a festival of authority and simplicity.

^{Crawley and Buttler enjoyed a terrific stand after coming together at 127 for 4}

When Pakistan’s bowlers strayed legside, his wrists were iron-clad in working the ball through midwicket. When they were too wide, he helped himself. And when they dropped short, he looked to pull or – occasionally – unfurl the kind of backfoot punch that only the tallest batsmen are truly able to pull off.

One particular stroke stood out – and it only brought him two runs: a straight punch on his toes back past Mohammad Abbas. It oozed class and a sense of certainty in himself that is not always this present in the game of young pretenders looking to make their way at the top level.

Nor, indeed, in the case of English No.3s. This was the first hundred by an Englishman in the role since Jonny Bairstow in Sri Lanka 38 Tests ago.

This was only his fourth Test innings at No.3, but each time he has raised his top score: 0, 11, 53 and now this.

The smile on his face when he reached three figures remained for some time afterwards and returned once he had successfully negotiated the day's final delivery, almost as if he was still beginning to understand quite what he had achieved in his own mind. It will soon soak in, though; and judging by this effort, there will be many more to come.

Without wishing to overplay a single day’s play, this was as accomplished an England hundred as there has been for some time - certainly as far as maiden centuries go. A knock so full of authoritative competence that it was hard to believe it was only his fourth at first-class level.

And perhaps, therefore, it was fitting that he should surpass his previous career-best of 168, for Kent against Glamorgan two years ago. Because, in some ways, this felt like the birth of a new player, a man who looked completely at one with his situation as an international cricketer.

Naseem’s ball of the summer?

Joe Root has enjoyed more profitable summers, but even at his best he might have struggled to survive an absolute ripsnorter from Naseem Shah. Wide on the crease and angling in, the ball spat and left the England captain, taking his edge on the way through to Mohammad Rizwan, who took a terrific catch to his right.

There was a lovely moment as Root left the scene, peering up to the Ageas Bowl’s big screen to reassess and analyse his own role in his demise.

The result? A rueful smile and a nod of the head. Sometimes, there isn’t much to be said other than a simple: ‘Well bowled.’

^{Naseem Shah dismissed Joe Root with a fabulous delivery}

A curious day for England’s openers...

A difficult summer continues for Rory Burns. He is averaging five through this series, having met his nemesis in Shaheen Shah Afridi. Even when Mohammad Abbas dismissed him in the first Test at Emirates Old Trafford, it was the angle from around the wicket that did for him.

It still feels premature to be discussing a threat to Burns’ place; after all, alongside Dom Sibley, he has overseen a rare period of solidity at the top of England’s order. But his technique has been found wanting in this series, and given the shape of this unusual summer, there will be little batting time for the left-hander before England next play red-ball cricket.

Sibley, meanwhile, was looking to be proactive when he fell to Yasir Shah, shuffling down the crease to the leg-spinner and looking to whip the ball through the legside. If nothing else, it was an intriguing dismissal – a sign that the Warwickshire batsman is conscious of improving his rotation of strike against spin, an area where he struggled at the start of the summer.

And just a word on Jos…

For all the stick he has received in recent times, this was a pretty terrific innings – and by no means his first of the summer. Batting, like wicketkeeping, is a confidence game. And after a difficult spell, he looks to have come out the other side.

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