Zak Crawley
Zak Crawley (born 3 February 1998) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club. He plays Test cricket for the England cricket team and has captained England in One Day Internationals. Crawley made his international debut for England in November 2019 in the second Test match of England's tour of New Zealand. Following a score of 267 runs in 2020, he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 2021 edition of the almanack. Crawley's mentor is former Kent captain Rob Key; Key was appointed as Director of Men's Cricket by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2022. Early life Crawley was born in Bromley in south-east London and was educated at New Beacon School in Sevenoaks and Tonbridge School; his father Terry is a retired City of London futures trader who had begun his working life as a carpet fitter, before becoming one of Britain's highest-paid men and making the Sunday Times Rich List following his change of profession. Crawley has represented Kent from under-11 level onwards, is a graduate of the Kent Cricket Academy and 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. Cricket career 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 the 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