Zak Crawley said no one in his group would ever criticize England teammate Harry Brook’s sending off after the batsman was out for a reverse triple in the third Ashes Test.
England finished the fourth day in Adelaide on Saturday with 207-6 at the end of the second innings, leaving them on the brink of series elimination, needing 228 more points to reach a record of 435 points for victory.
Sunday’s defeat seemed inevitable, but it meant England had lost the first three games of the five-match series, ensuring Australia the easiest victory in what was expected to be a close match.
High expectations were placed on Brook, who was appointed vice-captain by Ben Stokes before the series, but he scored a high 50 in six innings and suffered a number of wickets due to poor shot selection, the latest of which came on Saturday when he was bowled by Nathan Ryan.
Harry Brook did not play in the reverse sweep on Saturday
Crowley, England’s top scorer with 85 goals, told TNT Sports: “Personally, I’d rather see someone go off like that than defend on that pitch.
“No one in the group criticizes it, we never question Harry about anything related to batting.
“I’d much rather that than someone poking and finding out he’s short-legged. We’re trying to put pressure on him (Lyon).
“If you’re going to get out somehow, that would be better.”
Crawley’s defense of Brooke comes amid debate over England’s batting approach, with the top order coming under heavy criticism for giving away wickets too easily during defeats in Perth and Brisbane.
England seemed to have softened their attacking style somewhat in Adelaide, but Crawley insists that was more due to Australia’s bowling than anything else.
“We talk a lot about putting pressure back on them, absorbing pressure,” he added. “And to be honest, they were bowling so well that we probably took in a lot more than we would have liked.
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Ahead of the third Test, England vice-captain Brook said he needed to restrain himself after batting “badly” in the first two Ashes Tests.
“They don’t give us a lot. They’re very accurate bowlers. That’s probably their biggest strength.”
“So we’re just trying to find a way to put pressure on them. But they came up against us. To be fair, they were unbelievable.”
“Australian bowlers are phenomenal and relentless”
Crawley praised Australia’s bowling attack, but in reality they were not at full strength throughout the series.
Josh Hazlewood was completely absent due to injury, while Australian captain Pat Cummins also missed the first two matches but returned to the squad for the third Test.
Ryan was ruled out in Brisbane but returned in Adelaide to move past Glenn McGrath into second place on Australia’s all-time Test wicket-taker list.
Australia captain Pat Cummins took the first three wickets in England’s second innings
“They’re phenomenal,” Crowley said. “They are definitely the best bowling attack I have ever played against, especially in a situation like this where they are rotating like Lyon.
“They don’t give anything away, they move the ball and they’re relentless.
“But we knew it was coming, we knew we had to do our best and unfortunately we just fell short.
“But to be fair, they’ve had an incredible performance in the last three games.”
Zak Crawley scored an impressive 85 points for England.
Crawley admitted England’s dressing room was “flat” and seemed to have little hope for Sunday’s miraculous fightback.
“It’s flat. We came here to win The Ashes,” he said of the atmosphere at the tourist camp.
“We’re always an optimistic, upbeat team and we’re always going to fight as hard as we can, but it’s disappointing to come here and lose for the first time…
“Well, we’ll see what happens tomorrow, but we’ll probably be up against it.”
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