"They put a man on the fence, why didn't you hit it over him?" - Zak Crawley reveals Brendon McCullum's message ahead of Lord's Test
England opener Zak Crawley has revealed that head coach Brendon McCullum has asked them to play even more aggressively in the second Ashes Test at Lord's. The right-hander recalled McCullum urging him to go over the boundary if they place a fielder in that region.
McCullum, who rued England's bad luck in their two-wicket defeat at Edgbaston, promised England will go harder on the Australians at Lord's. Despite the loss, the 41-year-old took massive pride in England's efforts.
Crawley, who scored 61 in the first innings of the opening Test, revealed that McCullum urged him to remove any doubts he had in his mind ahead of the Lord's fixture. He told Virgin Radio in the UK.
"He even said we should go a bit harder next game. Any doubt you had in this game, you take it away. In your head you might think should I do this or take it a bit easy for 10 minutes and not get out. Baz would say you should absolutely do that. He said to me, they put a man on the fence, why didn't you hit it over him? I didn't even think about that."
England scored over 400 in both innings at Edgbaston as the batters were proactive against a strong Australian bowling unit. However, several experts pointed out that Ben Stokes' first-innings declaration at 393-8 in 78 overs came back to bite them.
"I don’t think we’ve lost anything this week" - Zak Crawley
The Kent batter asserted that the team's mentality was to play entertaining cricket and not worry about winning or losing. The 25-year-old reckons England have gained plenty of respect despite their loss at Edgbaston.
As quoted by indepedent.co.uk, Crawley said:
"That’s what we’re all about – we’re not about results, we always talk about that, we’re not about winning or losing, we’re about entertainment. Of course we’re there to win, and it helps our brand and what we’re trying to do if we win, we get more traction if we win. But I don’t think we’ve lost anything this week, other than a game of cricket, which is (in) a five-match series. Other than that, we’ve gained a lot of respect and support and I think it’s great for the game.”
The second Ashes Test starts on June 28th.