England's Zak Crawley made the headlines with his spectacular maiden Test hundred and stunning 205-run unbeaten stand with Jos Buttler on the opening day of the third and final Test against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Friday (August 21).
Crawley played an innings of sheer class, unbeaten 171 off 269 balls, along with an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 205 with Buttler to power England to 332 for 4 at stumps in Southampton.
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After the end of the Day 1 following his brilliant innings, the 22-year-old admitted that he was nervous after reaching the 90's but the company of “very calm head” Buttler helped him to score his career-best knock.
Crawley was quoted as saying by Sky Sports: “When I was about 91, I was really nervous. Jos didn't think I was, so I must have been hiding it pretty well! It was handy batting with Jos – he's a very calm head and he's always telling you to keep switched on. I think that's why we managed to get a good partnership today. It was the best feeling I've had on a cricket field – hopefully there's a few more to come.”
The right-handed batsman continued, “Luckily when I got to about 70 I calmed down a bit, but that period in the middle I played a couple of rash shots and managed to get through that. Jos batted great as well and made it easy for me. It was an unbelievable feeling, to see everyone else up there on the balcony, clapping – it almost flashed before my eyes, my whole career so far.”
After Pakistan's Yasir Shah’s 2 wickets left England at 127 for 4, the partnership between Crawley and Buttler turned the final Test firmly in favor of the hosts.
Crawley further admitted that his second Test show helped him to lay the foundation for his marathon knock in the ongoing final Test in Southampton, adding: “It was challenging because he (Yasir) is quite small and gets a low bounce. He bowls this ball which feels like it's quite short.”
He signed off by saying, “It does you and gets you when you go back to it, which I did on quite a few occasions but managed to get a bit of bat on it. But it was nice to get a look at him the other night and that made it a lot easier today. I had a much clearer game plan of how I wanted to go about it after the other game, so it was definitely beneficial.”
(With Sky Sports Inputs)
