Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope find form as England draw warm-up

Wednesday, 11 March 2020 02:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

England’s Zak Crawley plays a shot during the third day of a three-day practice match between Sri Lanka Cricket XI and England at the Marians Cricket Club Ground in Katunayake on March 9, 2020. - England will play two test matches during their tour of Sri Lanka under the ICC World Test Championship – AFP

ESPNCricinfo: Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope hit fifties as England scored fluently on the third day of their warm-up game against a Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Katunayake before the game petered out into a draw.

England resumed on 39 for 1 after bowling the hosts out on Sunday, and Crawley soon got into his groove in partnerships with Joe Denly and Ben Stokes, rocketing towards his ton as he found the boundary with regularity before lunch.

But having reached the interval unbeaten on 91 off 98 balls, he chipped the first ball after the resumption to silly mid-off, falling short of what would have been a second ton in England whites after a century in the warm-up game in Wharangei on the tour of New Zealand.

“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.”

“I reckon it has come early but it’s always been my goal to play for England. 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 [Burns] 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.”