At Lord’s on day one, Crawley flicked between his two theories.
To the recalled Bumrah he remained on middle but to Deep he took guard on off, only adding to the hectic feel.
The opener would say moving right and left, forward and back allows him to impose himself on each bowler, allowing him counter their threats by forcing each to leave their favoured line and length.
The reality is Crawley gave the impression of a batter who does not trust his own technique.
“The innings showed him not thinking as clearly as I would like,” former England captain and opener Sir Alastair Cook told Today at the Test.
“He’s doing it to unsettle Deep’s line and length but it is a sign he is not confident about lining him up.
“It unsettles Crawley more than Deep.
“It was so different to when Crawley played at his best at Headingley. That was a brilliant innings, with great tempo and timing. Today he looked confused.”
Crawley was eventually dismissed not by Deep but part-timer Nitish Kumar Reddy. Reddy got the ball to angle, nip away and bounce to take the glove.
It was a good ball, yes, but another Crawley dismissal against medium pacers.
He averages 40.50 against bowling over 87mph in Test cricket but just 27.88 against bowling between 74 and 82.9mph. Reddy is India’s version of the seamers who cause Crawley so much trouble in the County Championship.
