Zak Crawley was "a revelation" for England in The Ashes, according to batting great David Gower.
England recovered from 2-0 down against Australia to draw the five-match series 2-2 and may have even forced a famous victory had the weather not intervened in the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
Crawley scored a magnificent 189 from 182 balls in that Manchester contest and finished the series as England's top scorer with 480 runs at an impressive 53.33 average.
Having also hit fifties at Edgbaston and The Oval, Crawley is now established at the top of the order after what had been a mixed start to his Test career.
Prior to this summer, the 25-year-old averaged just 27.60 and had only produced 10 scores of 50+ across his first 61 innings in the longest format.
Gower, who with 3,037 runs is England's second-highest run-scorer in Ashes history, hopes the opener has turned the corner.
"Look at the way Zak Crawley batted – for the last three years he has been an enigma," Gower said to Stats Perform.
"You look at the man thinking he has got enormous talent. You look at the way he hits the ball and you think this man must make thousands of runs. And yet, he's averaging 20-odd.
"Suddenly, in this series, that style has been proven to be worthy.
"The trick for Zak Crawley now would be to carry on doing that wherever else he plays in the world and hopefully the lesson will have stuck.
"There are ways he can do that because he did change his game slightly, he did become more nuanced in the way he approached the opening overs of an innings.
"So people do learn as they go. This is the great thing – people learn throughout their careers and you have never nailed it for sure. You are learning each and every day that you are out there.
"Zak Crawley certainly contended to be a player of the series, I think that was a revelation."
Gower felt it was difficult to select a player of the series, with Chris Woakes ultimately winning the award despite not playing in every match.
The former England captain added: "It is always hard picking a player of a series when you've seen so many performances. The official result was Chris Woakes, who came in to play only three Test matches.
"What was interesting to me was that, for all the preparation and all the planning, things fell into place – not entirely by accident, but by circumstance – with Ollie Pope having to be left out because of injury.
"So the balance of the team changed, Woakes and [Mark] Wood came in and the Woakes-Wood partnership actually seemed to make a huge difference to England.
"Wood's pace at Leeds was very much the difference. And Woakes [made an impact] mainly with the ball and a little bit with the bat as well.
"Woakes just had a series that he will savour for a long, long time."
England do not return to Test action until January 2024, when they will travel to India for a five-match series.
They will now turn their attention to retaining the Cricket World Cup. The latest edition of the 50-over tournament starts in October.
Cricket West Indies to reveal squad for ICC T20 World Cup Friday, May 3
Cricket West Indies (CWI) is gearing up to unveil its squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup during a highly anticipated live press conference in Barbados on Friday, May 3. The event will feature CWI's Lead Selector, the Most Honourable Dr. Desmond Haynes, and Head Coach Daren Sammy alongside CWI Chief Executive Officer Johnny Grave.
In a statement, Johnny Grave expressed the organization's excitement about the impending announcement and highlighted the decision to host a live press conference as a means to directly engage with fans and media.
"Emphasizing the significance of this moment, we chose to host a live press conference to engage with fans and media directly. We also requested permission from the ICC to align our announcement with this event," said Johnny Grave.
The announcement comes amidst increasing excitement as local box offices across the region open on Thursday, May 2, allowing fans to secure their tickets for the tournament. Additionally, CWI will be releasing the official tournament song on the same day, further adding to the anticipation building around the event.
"Excitement is mounting as local box offices open across the region on Thursday, May 2, and we are equally thrilled to release the official tournament song on the same day. Anticipation is building, and we can't wait to share this journey with cricket enthusiasts worldwide," Grave added.
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, set to commence on June 1, will be co-hosted in the Caribbean and the United States, culminating with the finals scheduled to take place in Barbados. With preparations in full swing, CWI's squad announcement promises to be a significant moment in the lead-up to this highly anticipated global cricketing event. Stay tuned for the unveiling of the squad and the exciting journey ahead for Cricket West Indies at the ICC T20 World Cup.
IPL: Punjab Kings spinners frustrate CSK in routine win
Punjab Kings eased to back-to-back wins in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday, their spinners doing the damage as they claimed a seven-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings.
The Kings chased down an IPL-record of 262 with eight balls to spare to beat Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, but they didn't need anywhere near that level of big hitting to clinch their first set of consecutive victories this year.
Spinners Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar made it a far more comfortable outing for Punjab, finishing with two wickets apiece and giving up just 33 runs between them through eight overs.
Ruturaj Gaikwad did his best to keep CSK in it with his 62 off 48 balls, but they always looked unlikely to defend a middling score of 162, particularly when Deepak Chahar pulled up two deliveries into the Punjab innings and walked gingerly from the field.
Richard Gleeson dismissed Prabhsimran Singh for 13 on his IPL debut, but that was as good as it got for Chennai as Jonny Bairstow (46 off 30) and Rilee Rossouw (43 off 25) steadily ate away at their score.
The Super Kings' outing was summed up by Sam Curran's wayward drive spinning away from Shivam Dube at the boundary for a four late on, and Punjab wrapped up their most comfortable win of the season with 13 balls to spare.
Data Debrief: Kings maintain Chennai hoodoo
The Kings' upturn may have come a little too late to give them a genuine shot at the play-offs, but for Chennai, it was a case of more frustration against their bogey team.
Punjab have now won their last five matches against the Super Kings, who have seen their title defence stall with a run of three defeats in four outings.
Marsh named captain in Australia's T20 World Cup squad as Smith and Fraser-McGurk miss out
Mitchell Marsh will captain Australia at next month's T20 World Cup, but Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk have been left out of the 15-man squad.
Marsh, who has shared the duties on an interim basis since Aaron Finch's retirement, was named the Baggy Greens' permanent T20 skipper on Wednesday.
Test captain Pat Cummins, fast bowler Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell have also been named in the squad, which features 11 of the players that were part of the team that won this tournament in 2021.
However, there is no place for former skipper Smith following a difficult spell of form, while Fraser-McGurk is also absent despite his impressive form in the Indian Premier League.
"This is an experienced squad with extensive World Cup experience that offers a variety of structures and covers the scenarios the panel believes will factor in the West Indies with the unique nature of the venues and our opponents," selection chief George Bailey said.
"Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly.
"Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover.
"Ultimately, the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign."
"It's been an immense privilege to play for my country and now an even greater honour to lead the squad to a World Cup," Marsh added.
"We have had some strong success in recent times, and I am hopeful that will continue in what looks like a wide-open tournament."
Australia will begin their tournament against Oman on June 5, while they will also play England, Scotland and Namibia in Group B.
Australia's provisional squad:
Mitchell Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
