The Ashes: Zak Crawley says Harry Brook’s third Test dismissal would not be criticised by anyone in England camp | Cricket News

Zak Crawley says no one in the group would ever criticise the nature of his England team-mate Harry Brook’s dismissal after the batter was out reverse sweeping in the third Ashes Test.

England slipped to the brink of a series defeat on Saturday as they finished the fourth day in Adelaide on 207-6 in their second innings, still needing 228 more runs to pull off a record chase of 435 to win.

What appears to be an inevitable defeat on Sunday will mean England have lost the first three Tests of the five-match series, securing Australia the most comfortable of victories in a contest that many had expected to be closely fought.

There were high expectations of Brook, who was made Ben Stokes’ vice-captain ahead of the series, but he has a high-score of 50 in his six innings and has repeatedly given his wicket away with poor shot selection – the latest example coming when he was bowled by Nathan Lyon on Saturday.

Crawley, who top-scored for England with 85, told TNT Sports: “Personally, I’d rather see someone get out like that than defending on that pitch.

“No one in the group would ever criticise that. I certainly never would question Harry on anything to do with batting.

“I’d much rather that than someone prodding and finding short leg. We’re trying to put him [Lyon] under pressure.

“If you’re going to get out somehow, I’d rather it was that way.”

Crawley’s defence of Brook comes amid a debate over England’s approach to batting, with the top order having been subjected to heavy criticism for giving their wickets away too easily during the defeats in Perth and Brisbane.

England appear to have somewhat tempered their aggressive style in Adelaide, but Crawley insists that has been more down to the Australian bowling than anything else.

“We often talk about putting pressure back on them, absorbing pressure,” he added. “And, to be honest with you, they’ve bowled so well, there’s been a lot more of the absorbing than we’d have probably liked.

“They don’t really give us much. They’re very accurate bowlers. Probably their greatest strength.

“So, we’re just trying to find ways to put them under pressure. But they’ve stood up to us. They’ve been unbelievable, to be fair.”

‘Australian bowlers phenomenal and relentless’

Crawley was full of praise for the Australian bowling attack, which has not actually been at full strength for the series.

Josh Hazelwood has missed out entirely through injury, while Australia captain Pat Cummins returned to the side for the third Test after also being ruled out of the first two games.

Lyon was left out in Brisbane, before he returned in Adelaide and went past Glenn McGrath into second on Australia’s all-time list of Test wicket takers.

“They’re phenomenal,” Crawley said. “They’re the best bowling attack that I’ve played against for sure, especially in these conditions where it’s spinning like that for Lyon.

“They don’t give you anything, they make the ball move, and they’re relentless.

“But we knew that coming in. We knew we had to be our best and unfortunately, we’ve been just short of that.

“But in fairness to them, they’ve been phenomenal for the last three games.”

Crawley admitted the England dressing room was “flat” and appeared to be holding little hope of a miracle fightback on Sunday.

“It’s flat. We came here to win The Ashes,” he said of the atmosphere in the tourists’ camp.

“We’re always an optimistic team and an upbeat team and we’ll always put up as much of a fight as we can, but it’s disappointing to come here and lose these first…

“Well, we’ll see how tomorrow goes, but we’re probably up against it.”

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