England opener Zak Crawley, a Test regular, said Ricky Ponting and later Kevin Pietersen were his childhood heroes. After beginning the Ashes 2025 with a pair of ducks, he bounced back with a vital 76 in the second Test to steady England.
England opener Zak Crawley is currently part of the ongoing Ashes 2025 series, with the second Test, which is a Pink Ball Test, against Australia, currently underway at The Gabba in Brisbane. Crawley is playing his third Ashes series, with his first appearance coming in 2021/22 when he was recalled for the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Zak Crawley made his England debut in a Test match against New Zealand in 2019, and since then, he has featured in Test and ODIs. However, the 27-year-old has been a regular player in the Test side and cemented his place as one of the openers for England in the longest format of the game. Crawley has enjoyed more success in Tests rather than in ODIs, where he featured in just 8 matches and scored 199 runs.
Over the last six years, Zak Crawley has developed into one of England’s promising openers, consistently contributing with crucial innings and establishing himself as a dependable player in the Test lineup.
Zak Crawley’s Cricket Heroes
Every cricket player who is representing their nation at the international level draws inspiration from the legends who came before them, and Zak Crawley is no different in crediting his heroes who shaped his love for the game. When he was a kid, Crawley used to idolise former Australia captain and batting legend Ricky Ponting.
Speaking with the Changing Room Chat podcast in 2020, Crawley hailed Ponting as an ‘unbelievable player’.
“Ricky Ponting was my idol as a kid. As I wasn’t very tall as a kid, I loved the way he played as a short player. He was an unbelievable player,” Crawley, as quoted by Cricket365.
After moving to his teenage years, Crawley switched his hero worship from Ricky Ponting to Kevin Pietersen, hailing the former England captain as ‘one of the greatest ever’ to have played for the team, admiring his skill, flair and fearless attitude at the crease.
“Then, fortunately, I grew quite a bit around the age of 15, so I had stopped emulating Pointing in the nets and turned more to Kevin Pietersen as one of the greatest players I’ve ever seen,”
“I think he is the best player to have played for England. He has so much skill and flair, and we’d all love to bat like him, that’s for sure,” Crawley said.
Since his Test debut in 2019, Zak Crawley has amassed 3389 runs, including 5 centuries and 20 fifties, at an average of 31.37 in 61 matches.
Zak Crawley Bounces Back after Perth Horror
Meanwhile, Zak Crawley had a disastrous start to the Ashes 2025 series as he was dismissed for a duck in both innings of the first Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth, becoming only the fourth England opener ever to record a “pair” (two ducks) in an Ashes Test.
However, Crawley managed to make a comeback in the first innings of the second Ashes Test (Pink Ball) by recording his first fifty of the ongoing series against Australia. After England suffered early setbacks with dismissals of Ben Duckett (0) and Ollie Pope (0) and were reduced to 5/2, Crawley and Joe Root took charge of the visitors’ first innings batting.
Crawley and Root revived England’s batting with a 117-run stand for the third wicket before the opener’s dismissal at 122/3. Zak Crawley played a brilliant innings of 76 off 93 balls before he was dismissed by Michael Neser, bringing an end to his fluent knock that stabilised England’s innings after an early collapse.
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Zak Crawley has a good record in the Ashes, amassing 722 runs, including a century and 4 fifties, at an average of 40.11 in 10 matches.