Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett got England off to a productive start once again in the first innings against India in Vizag.
Their opening partnership was one of the key parts of the team’s success during the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum era, and the uncertainty in establishing a long-term pairing at the top of the league. The year came to an end. But beyond stability, it has begun to establish itself as one of the most productive UK opening partnerships in recent years.
In Vizag today (February 3), they scored a combined 59 runs before Duckett was caught at a stupid point by Kuldeep Yadav. They scored these runs in less than 11 overs on both sides of Ranchi and succeeded in luring Jasprit Bumrah out of the attack. This is the ninth time the pair have shared an opening stand of 50 or more runs, with a combined average of 48.82. This ranks them seventh on the list of best partnership averages for England openers with a cut-off of 20 innings. The players at the top of this list have played in different eras overall, with Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescotdick being the youngest pair above them.
When compared to players who played around the world during the same era, Duckett and Crowley rank 4th on the average list as of 2019. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal lead the list with a small sample size of 10 innings, but they have higher-than-average averages when compared to players who have batted together for more than 20 innings. only Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne (48.82 to 50.80). As of 2019, the only pair he has passed 50 more times than Duckett and Crowley are David Warner and Usman Khawaja.
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But her most impressive achievement was her role in steering England’s fortunes abroad. Their away stats are almost the same as England’s (away average 49.46). Since 2014, only Chris Rodgers and David Warner have a higher average (60.78) among players who have started innings together on the road at least 10 times.
You can’t talk about Crowley and Duckett’s partnership without mentioning their hit rate. Against Vizag, Crawley hit four fours off Bumrah overs and increased his strike rate to over five overs when Duckett was dismissed. The over-50 run rate was only his fifth highest run rate in the partnership.
Since 2019, no opening partnership has had the same level of average scoring rate (5.36), with Jaiwal and Rohit being the closest, averaging runs per four overs.
Duckett’s introduction as an opener to the England squad in Pakistan last year was perhaps the most important selection decision of the Stokes and McCullum era. It’s been 260 and a half years since he was recalled and 13 tests ago, and his average is over 50 years old. These stats are exceptional when combined with his strike rate of 89.76. But it’s the combination with Crowley that has propelled them both to where they are today. Before being partnered by Duckett, Crawley averaged 24.08 and had a strike rate of 52.59 as an opener in Test cricket. Since joining the Pakistan national team in 2022, he has averaged 42.08 runs and a strike rate of 88.64 in 13 innings.
What England have achieved over the past two years would not have been possible without both players scoring confidently together and supporting each other up top.
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