Fight, intent, attitude: Ponting earmarks impressive Crawley

Ricky Ponting has identified Zak Crawley as a lynchpin of the England team for years to come after he ended England's barren run of opening contributions and helped the visitors avoid a dreaded Vodafone Ashes series whitewash.

Playing his second Test of the series after being overlooked in Brisbane and Adelaide, Crawley took the fight to Australia to set the tone of England's gritty final-day stand that ensured they would not head home with the ignominy of being swept 0-5.

The 23-year-old struck 77 of his side's first 91 runs and while he fell lbw to a vicious yorker from Cameron Green, Ponting believes the 23-year-old must form a key part of England's post-Ashes rebuild – one he wants Ben Stokes to lead.

The opening spot has been a major headache for England in this series; five of their eight first-wicket partnerships have been in single digits with Haseeb Hameed (80 runs at 10), Rory Burns (51 runs at 12.75) and even Crawley (35 runs at 11.67 before his second innings in Sydney) all proving cannon fodder against Australia's new-ball bowlers.

"One innings like that for a struggling English team that are devoid of what looks to be a lot of batting talent, he probably locks himself in for another couple of years of Test cricket on the back of one innings," Ponting told cricket.com.au

"He showed the mettle, he showed the fight, he showed the intent.

"He was happy to try and put a bit of pressure back on (Pat) Cummins and (Mitchell) Starc. If they overpitched, he whacked it down on the ground and if they were a fraction short, he was good enough to pull them through midwicket.

"I liked what I saw and, more importantly, I liked the attitude.

"If you put him next to Hameed – the attitude that Hameed showed and the attitude that Crawley showed, I know which one I'm picking as a future England player."

Hameed has failed to reach double digits in the last three Tests and could lose his spot if Burns, who was hard at work in the SCG nets today against the pink ball he might face in Hobart, earns a recall.

As much as Crawley's counter-punching approach on day five caught the eye, his (and Hameed's) ability to not expose England's middle-order the previous evening in a tough 11-over burst proved vital given the tourists ended up holding on for a draw with only a wicket to spare. 

Crawley's technique did come under the microscope on Sunday, with former Test opener Simon Katich suggesting his dominant bottom-hand grip and stance could cause issues.

"He ends up overbalancing, walking down the wicket with that back foot coming through. As a result with him being really square on, that bottom hand comes through," Katich said on Channel Seven.

"When you're driving the ball, you want to stay as side-on as possible. It's a little area on his game for him to keep working on. He's a good young player."

Ponting was less concerned, suggesting Crawley had taken guard outside off-stump as part of a clear strategy to combat Australia's right-arm quicks trapping him lbw.

He did suggest Crawley clearly has had issues to overcome given that he had only passed 50 once in 17 innings since his maiden Test century, a dominant 267 against Pakistan in Southampton in 2020 that saw him marked as one of the most promising young batters in the world.

It took from then until Sunday to score his next 267 Test runs.

"He'll have some technical things he's got to work through," said Ponting. "The fact that he made 267 in one Test against Pakistan and then it's taken him another (18) innings to get his next 267 runs in Test cricket says that he's had struggles.

"As long as you know what your limitations are and know what you can and can't do (he will be OK).

"If that's the way that he's going to bat then he's just got to understand that the off-drive is going to be a really hard shot for him to play.

"He's going to wait for bowlers to get straight and get them through midwicket or when they err on length, he stands up tall on the back foot and hits through the off-side.

"That's what understanding your game is … You only learn that by experience and doing it against the best bowlers.

"But he did it against some really good bowlers today and looked every bit of a top Test match player.

"He knows if he sticks to his game that he's got a game that can survive against some of the best fast bowlers in the world."

HCL Vantage Point – Ricky Ponting on Australia's declaration and whether they were 'spooked' by failing to bowl India out twice in fourth innings last summer

"I've never really been one for questioning (a declaration) too much when they're setting a total but because it's all dependent on what happens with the end result.

"But when the game does finish and they're 100 runs short of what they were chasing (there are questions).

"Even a lot of the runs (England) got towards the end were freebies because the fielders were all in.

"That's one of the first questions Pat will have to answer at the press conference tonight.

"If they were spooked by (last summer) then you would have thought there would have been more urgency yesterday to set the game up and give themselves even more time.

"So they obviously weren't."

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