England cricket team is all set to lock horns against Ireland in the 2nd ODI on 23rd September (*Saturday). The first ODI was washed out on 20th September. Zak Crawley would be keen to make a case for himself by getting a significant score on the board. Zak Crawley doesn’t have enough prior experience in leading the team as he would be tested.
The star-studded batter Joe Root had a terrible New Zealand ODI series. It seemed as if he was in a hurry to play attacking shots and was getting impatient quite quickly which was unlike the old Joe Root. It’s quite astonishing to see that Joe Root was overlooked for leading the side against Ireland
England have an inexperienced bowling lineup in the form of Brydon Carse, George Scrimshaw & Tom Hartley. These bowlers could be taken to the cleaners by Irish batters. ECB’s strategy is quite puzzling as they should have included one of Sam Curran or Chris Woakes as one of them could have led the bowling attack.
I was shocked- Zak Crawley
Zak Crawley was having an interaction with the reporters ahead of the Ireland ODI series. Zak Crawley was quite shell-shocked when the England Cricket Board (ECB) announced the squad in which senior players like Ben Stokes & Jos Buttler are rested in order to manage the workload of the marquee ODI WC 2o23.
“Yeah, I was shocked. I was just hoping to get into the team and play more for England, but they told me I was captain and it’s a great opportunity for me. It was Motty [head coach Matthew Mott] who gave me the call to say I’d be in the squad and captaining. It was as simple as that. He was doing the rounds phoning everyone else, so it was a pretty brief phone call but a pretty good call,” said Zak Crawley.
Joe Root is a great person to learn from and a role model for us all- Zak Crawley
Zak Crawley heaped praise on Joe Root and said that a youngster can learn a lot from him. Zak Crawley pointed out that no one works harder that Joe Root. Crawley made it clear that his side won’t change England’s aggressive approach despite many senior players being rested.
“We all know how this England white-ball team has played over the past eight years. We know how to get into the main team, it’s by being aggressive, showing people what skill and quality you have. That’s what we should all try to do this week,” said Zak Crawley.
“To have him in the side as a batsman and former captain is going to be tremendously useful for me and the team. No-one works harder than Joe, that’s why he’s the best. We all try to emulate him as much as we can. He’s a great person to learn from and a role model for us all,”