ENG vs IND: Vaughan wants hosts to make a change to their XI for Lord’s Test

Michael Vaughan has suggested that England should drop their no. 3 Zak Crawley going into the second Test match against India at Lord’s which starts on Thursday, August 12. Crawley has been in terrible form with the bat since scoring his highest Test score of 267 runs against Pakistan in Southampton last summer.

Since that knock, Crawley’s scores have been – 9, 8, 5, 13, 53, 0, 9, 5, 2, 2, 0, 17, 27, and 6, with the last two scores being from the first Test against India in Nottingham. Vaughan has suggested that England should bring in Haseeb Hameed, who was seen in good form with the bat in this summer’s county championship. Interestingly, Hameed also scored a century against the India XI in their warm-up match where he played for the Select County XI.

The former England skipper further stated that he believes Crawley has it in him to go to Australia for the Ashes later this year. He also predicted that Crawley can be a high-class player in Test cricket but right now it is not going alright for him. Vaughan expressed that he believes Crawley needs to play some different format, improve his technique and then get back in the Test side.

You wonder how much further he can progress: Michael Vaughan on Dominic Sibley

“Zak Crawley could be a high-class Test match player but he’s not got enough runs. I wouldn’t play Crawley at Lord’s but he could well go to Australia. He could suit going out of this environment for a while, play some different formats, iron out his technique. It could refresh him,” Michael Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special.

The former skipper further noted that Dominic Sibley, who scored 18 and 28 in the Nottingham Test has done enough to go for the second Test against India. Though, he wondered for how long. The former Yorkshire batter also said that he believes Dawid Malan, who had scored 199 runs in his only county championship knock this summer, should be given a chance. He also noted that Malan for now is in England’s Test plans.

“Dom Sibley has done enough to stay in the side but you wonder how much further he can progress. He just can’t go up through the gears and the bowlers are able to control him. I would bring Haseeb Hameed in for Zak Crawley. I’d also bring Dawid Malan in but he’s clearly not in England’s Test plans,” he further opined.