Since Zak Crawley debuted in November 2019, no one has been dismissed for 9 or fewer runs more often than him. That is not just among top-order batters. That includes everyone, right down to number 11.
In this period, Crawley has been dismissed for single figures a whopping 47 times. His nearest neighbours are Jasprit Bumrah (38) and Tim Southee (36), with two more BazBallers rounding out the top five in Stokes (35) and Pope (34). Fair to say it is not a great sign when Crawley’s nearest neighbours by this metric are two tail-enders, who he still clears comfortably. The non-English top-order batter who has been dismissed for single digits the next most often in this period is Kraigg Braithwaite (31).
Six of the top ten are specialist bowlers. Stokes is an all-rounder. Brathwaite and Pope have both been dropped by their respective teams. And then there was Crawley. Among specialist Test batters who don’t play for England and who are not currently dropped from their teams, Tom Latham (26) has the next most dismissals for single digits in this period, nearly half as many as Crawley.
The kicker to this stat is that, in this same period, Zak Crawley has been the best batter in the world at two incredibly specific skills: being dismissed for less than 10, and being dismissed in the 70s. Since debuting, Crawley has been out for between 70 and 79 runs nine times. The next-most is Virat Kohli with just six.
