Zak Crawley keen to take full advantage of unexpected England chance after composed performance

Zak Crawley was thrust into the England picture much earlier than anticipated this winter but is growing into the role of opener more and more with each innings.

Crawley, 22, was again composed and classy on Sunday as he scored 91 in the first warm-up of England’s Sri Lanka tour before giving away the chance of a second century in practice games this winter with a careless drive to extra cover the ball after lunch.

It was enough to show the Kent man continues on an upward graph and is making the most of the opportunity handed him in freak circumstances when Rory Burns damaged his ankle playing football on the eve of the second Test in South Africa.

‘Yes, I reckon it has come early but it’s always been my goal to play for England,’ said Crawley after three days of decent practice and a draw against a Sri Lanka Cricket XI. ‘This has been something I’ve prepared my whole life for.

‘Everyone gets their chance in different ways. Dom (Sibley) earned his by scoring loads of runs and mine came when maybe I was picked on potential. Then an injury comes and suddenly I’m playing. Rory started brilliantly with England so when he’s fully fit he’s playing again. I just want to put in performances to stay in the group.’

Not that a flat pitch in this town north of Colombo and a large diet of seam from an inexperienced home side is likely to be replicated in the two Tests in Galle and Colombo.

‘I know what it’s going to be like here,’ said Crawley. ‘It’s going to turn while the seamers will be skiddy with lower bounce so you just prepare for that mentally and go from there. It’s been a lot more spin heavy in the nets here but we’ve faced a lot of seam in this game so there might be a green one in Galle or Colombo. You never know. You try and stay on top of all the aspects of the game but the main focus is on spin.’

There was also valuable time in the middle for Ollie Pope on Sunday as he made 77 as England batted all day to make 320 for seven in their second innings.

Preparations will now be ramped up a notch on Thursday when they meet a President’s XI in a first-class match over four-days, with England almost certainly picking the side they plan to field in the first Test next week.

That will include Jack Leach as long as he has fully recovered from his calf injury to play alongside his Somerset team-mate Dom Bess in a two-pronged spin attack, while Sam Curran and Chris Woakes appear to be competing for the last place.