Sunrisers Eastern Cape have struggled for starts at the top of the order during SA20 due to opener Zak Crawley’s poor form.
It is not often that one single player’s performance – or rather lack of – can derail an entire team’s campaign. But the Sunrisers Eastern Cape triple crown aspirations will ultimately sink if they are to remain blindingly loyal to opening batter Zak Crawley.
The English Test opener has managed just 88 runs at an average of 11.0 and strike-rate of 110 across eight innings.
The lack of runs has not been the only problem though. Crawley’s entire body language at the crease has not inspired confidence.
Equally, his dismissals on the first ball of the innings has sent shivers through the rest of the Sunrisers’ changeroom, which had led to numerous top-order collapses this SA20 campaign.
Crawley’s continued presence in the line-up has also forced rising star Jordan Hermann to slip down into an unfamiliar middle-order role. This has placed the 23-year-old under immense pressure as he does not know how to build an innings after a couple of wickets have fallen.
The Hermann middle-order experiment has been an even greater catastrophe with the left-hander managing just 52 runs at an average of 8.66 and strike-rate of 77.61.
Sunrisers coach Adrian Birrell was certainly perplexed with how to resolve the Crawley debacle.
“T20 is a brutal game if you’re out of form. It doesn’t give you time,” Birrell said.
“In 50-over cricket you can bide your time a little bit and in Test cricket you can bide your time and see a few balls and spend time at the crease. In T20 cricket you can’t do that, you’ve got to get going. It’s been hard for him.
“He’s been getting out to straight balls, but also caught behind off wide balls. He’s been getting out in two modes.”
“But he’s not the only one that’s struggled for us, we’ve got other guys that have also struggled a bit. He’s a quality player.
“I chose him because of his ability and some of the innings I’ve seen him play. I really feel for him. He’s a great guy and he’s putting in the hard work and he’s trying his utmost to turn it around.”
Birrell was pushed though on whether Crawley would be seen in SA20 again this season, especially with it now being crunch time with all the teams jostling for play-off positions.
“I don’t know, we’re going to have to look at it and come up with a plan for the next game,” he said.
“We’ve obviously backed him until now, but we’ll take a day off. We’ve fortunately got a travel day, then we practice on Tuesday and we play Wednesday, so there’s a little time ahead of us to come up with a plan.”
An injury to all-rounder Patrick Kruger, who was officially ruled out on Monday, has affected the Sunrisers’ overall balance, especially with Birrell always keen to field a lengthy batting line-up.
Crawley is given a lengthy rope in the England Test team with coach Brendon McCullum stating, “I look at a guy like Zak and his skillset is not to be a consistent cricketer, but when he gets going, he can win matches for England“, but Birrell is not McCullum though.
And England are not the Sunrisers. Action needs to be taken and Birrell has to make the hard call and give Crawley a break.
The Sunrisers called up Proteas opening bat Tony de Zorzi as Kruger’s replacement on Monday, which is a clear indication they are looking to shore up the top order.
Crawley’s omission though will also free up an extra overseas slot, which would open the path for Birrell to draft Season 1 hero Roelof van der Merwe into the starting XI.
Van der Merwe was the catalyst for the Season 1 turnaround that drove the Sunrisers to their maiden SA20 title and the time has maybe come for Birrell to unleash the Bulldog again with the play-offs fast approaching.
