England opener Zak Crawley said, “I owe it to myself to have a few more good performances,” following his sparkling 84 in the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford.

Crawley has long been a polarising figure in English cricket, given his modest average of 31.40 from 58 Tests, including a mere five hundreds—a poor return from a specialist batsman.

But, significantly, England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have never lost faith in the 27-year-old despite all Crawley’s critics, including former England skipper Michael Vaughan, believing he is failing to do his talent justice.

And the Kent right-hander repaid some of the England management’s confidence with 84 on Thursday at a ground where he made a stunning 189 during the 2023 Ashes.

Crawley and opening partner Ben Duckett, who also missed out on a hundred on Thursday when falling for 94, launched England’s reply to India’s first-innings 358 with a swashbuckling stand of 166 in 32 overs.

England ended the second day on 225-2, with a deficit of 133 runs.

“I always want more from myself and I’ve certainly wanted more for myself than I’ve got in the last year or so,” said Crawley, whose elegant style has often, if perhaps unfairly, led to accusations of a cavalier attitude.

He also told reporters, “I just feel like I owe it to myself to have a few more good performances. I don’t think I’ve ever got out in my life and not been annoyed, and I was certainly annoyed (after getting out on Thursday).”

Crawley and Duckett delighted the Manchester crowd just a week after being caught up in a time-wasting row in the third Test at Lord’s.

England eventually won that match by 22 runs to go 2-1 up in this five-match series, with Crawley, sworn at during the fracas by India captain Shubman Gill, saying, “At Lord’s, I loved that little passage. No one stepped over the line, it was just competitive cricket, I really enjoyed it.”