Zak Crawley

Zak Crawley (born 3 February 1998) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club. He was born in Bromley in south-east London and was educated at Tonbridge School.

Crawley is a top-order batsman who has been described as "technically ... very strong". He made his international debut for the England cricket team in November 2019 in the second Test match of England's tour of New Zealand.

Crawley represented Kent from under-13 level onwards and is a graduate of the Kent Cricket Academy. He played club cricket for Holmesdale Cricket Club, Knockholt Cricket Club and Sevenoaks Vine. He made his Second XI debut for the county in 2013 aged 15 and signed his first professional contract with the club at the end of the 2015 season during which he had become a regular Second XI player and was selected for the England Elite Player Development for London programme. During the 2016–17 English winter Crawley played Western Australian Grade Cricket for Wembley Districts.

Crawley made his senior debut for Kent in the 2017 Royal London Cup against Essex at Canterbury on 17 May 2017. He made his first-class debut for Kent against the touring West Indians on 6 August 2017 during the 166th Canterbury Cricket Week, scoring 62 runs in his debut first-class innings before going on to make his County Championship debut for the county at the end of the same month. After playing in four Championship matches for the county during the tail-end of the season he signed a contract extension with Kent in October 2017.

Crawley was part of Kent squad for the 2017–18 Regional Super50 competition in the West Indies in early 2018. He scored his maiden List A cricket half century in Kent's opening match of the competition against Guyana, scoring 60 runs as an opening batsman, before going on to score 99 not out against the Leeward Islands in the county's third match of the tournament. The match ended in controversial circumstances with the opposing Leeward Islands bowling wide balls in what was seen by some as an attempt to deny Crawley the opportunity to reach his century.

During the 2018 season Crawley became a regular in the Kent side, playing in all of the team's first-class matches as well as occasional limited overs games. He was Kent's third highest run scorer in the County Championship with 755 runs scored at an average of 31.46 runs per innings. After twice being dismissed in the nineties he scored his maiden first-class century in the final home match of the season, making 168 against Glamorgan at Canterbury in September and signed a contract extension at the end of the season before playing New South Wales Grade cricket during the 2018/19 winter. Playing for Sydney Cricket Club, he set a new record for the fastest century scored in the competition, making 100 from 42 balls in the T20 Cup against Sutherland District Cricket Club.

Following a series of good batting performances at the start of the 2019 season, including scoring two centuries, Crawley made his England Lions debut in a four-day match against an Australian XI in July at Canterbury, the first time he had played for any England side. He scored 820 County Championship runs during the season and, in September 2019, was named in the England cricket team's Test match squad for their 2019/20 tour of New Zealand, one of four uncapped players included in the squad for the tour. After scoring a century in a warm-up match, Crawley was brought into the team for the second Test following an injury to Jos Buttler, making his debut at Seddon Park on 29 November aged 21. After scoring only one run on debut, batting at number 6, he was retained in the squad for the tour of South Africa in December and January. Following an injury to opening batsman Rory Burns, Crawley made his second Test appearance in the second Test against South Africa, this time opening the batting. His "excellent temperament" and "unflustered" approach were praised as was his bravery against short-pitched bowling, although some technical issues with his batting were also commented on. He made scores of 4 and 25 in the match, but also took two "vital" catches during the final innings of the match.