Kent and England’s Zak Crawley deserves to succeed because of the hard work he puts into his game.
That’s the verdict of Kent head coach Adam Hollioake as Crawley ended his latest run of games with the county to link up with the England Test squad for the home series with India.
Crawley started the summer under pressure following a tough winter but scored 124 for England in the dominant win over Zimbabwe and has continued his good form for Kent in the T20 Blast.
The 27-year-old scored a match-winning 75 not out to treat the Kent faithful at Canterbury on Sunday and Hollioake believes Crawley’s hard work is paying off.
“He was under a lot of pressure in the off-season and early season here,” said Hollioake.
“I think all those people who were doubting him, he silenced them all.
“He’s done it in a nice way because I haven’t seen him in the changing room. He’s just been so humble and just kept going.
“You wouldn’t know that he was under pressure because he’s just handled it in his stride like a man.
“To see him come out and do what he’s done, he’s one of the good guys, so it’s good to see.
“He’s just playing incredibly well, it’s all come together. He did a lot of work off-season and early season, and he’s getting the rewards for that now.
“That’s life, isn’t it? Success always follows hard work, so he’s worked hard and he deserves it.
“He’s not under pressure anymore, is he? Every time he bats now, he’s going runs.
“He silenced the people who were criticising him, so it’s on them to come up with someone else to be negative about now.”
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Hollioake believes Crawley’s spot in the England squad is a source of inspiration for his county team-mates, rather than leaving them with a hole to fill in his absence.
“That’s one of the things we want to do, we want to provide players for England and we want to be the best players that we can be,” said Hollioake. “He’s something for the rest of us to aim for.
“The rest of the players, they see him being as good as he is and he gets picked for England. That makes it seem achievable.
“I don’t think it’s a negative thing, him going and playing for England. I think that lifts the group. We’ve got to look at it that way.”
