Zak Crawley's time as a Test opener for England seems to be running and captain and coach, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum's patience too, with respect to him as the right-hander recorded a pair in the first Ashes Test in Perth. Crawley failed to get off the mark in both innings and got out to Mitchell Starc both times in the respective innings' first overs. Starc has now taken 25 wickets in the first over of a Test innings, while Crawley has set an embarrassing record against himself in the World Test Championship (WTC).
Crawley now has 10 ducks in WTC as an opener, which is the most. Crawley was tied with his compatriot Rory Burns at the start of the Test match, but has now become the first batter to get into the double digits, as his poor form in Test cricket continued.
Most ducks in World Test Championship (for an opener)
10 - Zak Crawley (England), in 89 innings
8 - Rory Burns (England), in 38 innings
7 - Kraigg Brathwaite (West Indies), in 82 innings
7 - Mahmudul Hasan Joy (Bangladesh), in 30 innings
7 - David Warner (Australia), in 68 innings
Crawley scored just 290 runs in nine innings in the India series earlier this year, including a couple of fifties and the highest of 84. The England opener averaged 32.22 in the series, while getting out for a single digit on a couple of occasions. Since Crawley didn't disappoint altogether, England carried him for the Ashes and it seems like the time might come soon when the tourists are looking in the other direction.
Starc, who took his career-best figures of 7/58, began well before Crawley played it back to the bowler. The tall left-armer had to quickly get down, dive and stretch his left arm out to reach for the ball and the 35-year-old took a stunner to begin the innings well again. Starc went on to add the wickets of Joe Root and Ben Stokes to his tally to finish with a 10-wicket haul for the match.