Crawley is gone but Kent lookalike Dawkins may be England’s next big thing

Tall, upright, elegant: those at Beckenham on Friday, including the England captain Ben Stokes, saw a familiar-looking right-handed Kent opener bat all day for a scintillating unbeaten 181.

It was not Zak Crawley, but the 19-year-old Ben Dawkins, his lookalike opening partner, compiling a magnificent maiden hundred to dominate the opening day against Durham, the runaway leaders of Division Two. Resurgent Kent closed on 385 for four.

Crawley, whose long run in the England side ended this week, fell to Stokes in the morning session, driving straight to cover for 30. He had breezed six fours, two of them thick outside edges, including his first ball, and three of them gorgeous drives through cover or down the ground. It was classic Crawley, including the dismissal. He threw his head back in frustration, knowing he had missed out on a beautiful batting track. No more wickets fell for almost 70 overs, as Dawkins and fellow centurion Sam Northeast put on 303, a record for Kent against Durham.

The fall of Crawley was as good as it got for Stokes, who was Durham’s most threatening bowler until a flurry of evening-session wickets from Ben Raine and Matthew Potts, who were excellent with the second new ball.

Stokes battled illness that meant he left the field after two of his three spells. In his second, which included a sustained barrage of bumpers, he had Northeast dropped by the diving wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson, and in his third spell, which lasted just two overs, he conceded 28 runs. Still, Stokes will be better for the 13 overs he bowled as he builds towards the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, which starts on June 4, his 35th birthday. He will hope his sickness subsides to have a significant bat on this pitch later in the match. Happily, he remained on the field throughout the evening session.

Stokes is a long-time admirer of Crawley, so Dawkins’ innings will no doubt have impressed him. The likeness is striking. As the pair shared 61, the only obvious way to tell who was on strike was their sweaters, with Crawley’s sleeves long on a bitterly cold day, and Dawkins’ short. On closer inspection, Dawkins is a little more willowy and tighter in his technique.

But Dawkins has a lovely cover drive and flicks his nicely off his pads. Against Callum Parkinson’s tidy spin, he swept and launched one handsome six down the ground. When the reliable Ben Compton returns from injury, Crawley might find himself squeezed down the order, or out of the side after Dawkins announced his arrival.

Durham are flying high, but were profligate here, on a good batting pitch that left little margin for error. There were three drops, with the hardest Robinson’s off Stokes. Dawkins was missed at second slip off Raine, who then badly missed Northeast on 73 at backward-point off Kasey Aldridge. The fightback in the evening session was much-needed, as Kent lost three for four, starting with Northeast’s leading edge off Raine, which was taken sharply at second slip.

This was Northeast’s 20th first-class hundred for Kent, but first since 2017. Since then, Kent’s prodigal son has spent long spells at Hampshire and Glamorgan, but is back to anchor the top order. He was troubled by Stokes’s short stuff.

At Headingley, Joe Root and Harry Brook failed to make an impression against Surrey, with Yorkshire slumping to 121 for four. But from there, two former England batsmen, the veterans Adam Lyth and Jonny Bairstow, compiled centuries to give Yorkshire the upper hand.

Root and Brook were both dismissed by Matthew Fisher, the Yorkshire product who was included alongside his former team-mates in the England squad this week. Root was given out lbw for 44 and looked unusually miffed, believing the ball to be darting down the leg side, while Brook was caught at first slip, loosely dancing down the wicket. Like Stokes, he could do with some time in the middle before the first Test.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]