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While acknowledging
that some “refinement” is required to capitalise on their positions
of dominance, like the one that eluded them in the fourth Test in Ranchi last
month, Zak Crawley says that England will not allow their shortcomings in India
to undermine their positive approach to Test cricket.
Even though England was clearly second best by the time the series ended in an
innings defeat in three days in Dharamsala, Crawley argued that England had
never lost faith in their offensive ways while speaking at the Kia Oval on the
eve of the county season.
The 4-1 series
outcome, he continued, may have been quite different had England taken
advantage of their Ranchi opportunity. Two days into the fourth Test, India
found themselves down more than 100 runs in the first innings after falling to
177 for 7 in response to 353. However, Dhruv Jurel’s valiant 90 turned the tide
and allowed his team’s spinners to regain pressure on England.
“We never really lost faith and had the same attitude, as you can tell
from some of our press!” Crawley said, as he joked about some of the more
outlandish expressions of optimism that came out of the England camp in the
course of the tour.
“We had the same attitude throughout and I don’t think that is arrogance.
We genuinely believed in ourselves and thought we could win the series. We were
in all the games. We certainly weren’t in the games when I was in India last
time, so we gave ourselves a good chance and we weren’t quite clinical enough,
like they were, to be fair.
“We should have
won in Ranchi to make it 2-2 and then you never know how the last one goes, but
it is always hard to wrestle the momentum back. Over five days, their skills
are always going to come out, and they are a phenomenal team. It was a really
enjoyable tour though, we gave it a good crack, and there is a lot to learn
from.”