Zak Crawley's crucial 77 off 100 in the second innings of the fourth Test against Australia, played an instrumental role in helping England eke out a draw in a thrilling contest on Sunday (January 9).
And with this resilient innings, Crawley, at the age of 23 years and 340 days, has become the third-youngest England opener to score 50+ runs in Ashes Test in Australia, following the footsteps of former captains Alastair Cook (21years 354days in Perth, December 2006) and Michael Atherton (22years 287days in Sydney, Jan 1991 & 22years 308days in Adelaide, January 1991).
The resistance shown by him in the face of adversity was commendable which actually earned him a lot of praise ranging from the England's captain Joe Root to the likes of Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton and Ricky Ponting.
"He's got a very good game, a very simple technique, something that should stand up well if he can string a couple of games and good scores together, he's got the qualities to survive at this level," Root said of Crawley after the match.
Crawley amassed 13 boundaries in his fifth Test half-century. It was the first by an England opener in this Ashes series.
The Kent star, 23, averaged a lowly 10.81 from eight Test matches in 2021 - looking a shadow of the player who had scored 267 against Pakistan in Southampton in August 2020.
But Crawley said before the fourth Test at the SCG that he "knew full well" he could score a hundred and fell just 23 runs short during an authoritative knock.
The former England captain Nasser Hussain said: “I think Crawley has been the highlight of the Test match for me.”
"To watch him play with such fluency and a simple technique, put away the bad ball and put the pressure back on the Australia bowlers [was fantastic]. It's something that has not been there at the top of the order.
"Dom Sibley, Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed look to defend and occasionally they miss out on the balls they can score off, so England end up going nowhere.
“Crawley looks like he is in a position to attack first and I think that puts you in a better position technically and mentally to put away the bad ball,” Nasser added.
Hussain's fellow pundit and former England skipper Michael Atherton said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast: "Crawley has presence at the crease".
"He is obviously a tall lad, physically imposing, but if the bowlers err he also has some ammunition in his locker and he can put the pressure back on," he added.
Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting has identified Zak Crawley as a lynchpin of the England team for years to come after he ended England's barren run of opening contributions and helped the visitors avoid a dreaded Vodafone Ashes series whitewash.
"One innings like that for a struggling English team that are devoid of what looks to be a lot of batting talent, he probably locks himself in for another couple of years of Test cricket on the back of one innings," Ponting told cricket.com.au
"He showed the mettle, he showed the fight, he showed the intent," Ponting added.
Australia had looked set to win the day-long battle and pull off a thrilling victory when they claimed the ninth wicket of Jack Leach, caught in the slips by David Warner off Smith for 26 to mass team celebrations.
But James Anderson and long-time pace partner Stuart Broad played out the remaining two nail-bitingly tense overs to give the beleaguered tourists a morale-boosting fighting draw after losing the Ashes series 3-0 inside 12 days.
