England fly-half Zak Crawley has admitted that England are far from the way they have played in the past in Australia. He said the team was in big trouble heading into day 5 of the Adelaide Test.
Zak Crawley scored 85 runs on day four but was stumped by Alex Carey in the final session. This means the hosts only need 4 more wickets to secure the match and win the series 3-0.
Unlike their Bazball approach, England have posted disappointing performances in the Ashes so far. Australia dominated them from the first match, keeping them under pressure.
“Difficult to play like in the past”
Crediting Australia for their performance, Crawley said: “They played very well and didn’t do much for us. [Scott] Boland, just for one of them. He very rarely misses, and so it’s difficult to play that way that maybe we’ve done in the past.
“They have to take credit there and they have established some good pitches, in fairness to them. It’s just an attrition style of cricket here, and they don’t allow it. It’s not as easy to score quickly here.”
Crawley on Australia’s bowling attack
Crawley added: “It’s the best bowling attack I’ve played against, that’s for sure – especially in these conditions, when it was going like that for [Nathan] Lyon. They don’t give you anything, they move the ball and they are relentless.
“We knew that coming in. We knew we had to be at our best, and unfortunately we didn’t get there. But to be fair to them, they’ve been phenomenal in the last three games.”
“They played very well”
Crawley admitted the reason England are defeated is because Australia are simply a better team. “It’s been tough. They’re a very, very good team,” he said. “I feel like it was always going to be difficult to compete against them here. They were the favorites and they proved why. They played very, very well and made it very difficult for us.
“Obviously we were slightly below our best, but a lot of the credit has to go to them – they didn’t really allow us to be at our best.
“You’re always looking to improve and find ways to compete better. I like to keep things simple though, and I just think they were better than us. A lot of the time, especially in England, we look internally and say, ‘Oh, what could we have done better?’
“But they didn’t allow us to do [that]. They played really well. Obviously we could have been better, that’s a fact, but they made it very difficult for us. They are a top team in their own conditions, and they made it difficult for us.
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