'It's hard when your main scoring shot is also your main weakness': Alastair Cook's hard-hitting verdict on England star

England registered an emphatic five-wicket win over New Zealand in the first Test of the series, but had a frustrating start to the second game, conceding 553 in the first innings. Daryl Mitchell (190) and Tom Blundell (106) slammed centuries for New Zealand to take the visitors to a strong score after Ben Stokes opted to bowl at Trent Bridge. The English team did end strongly at 90/1 on Day 2 but endured an early setback in form of Zak Crawley who departed on 4.

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Crawley endured disappointing outings in the Test series against New Zealand so far, registering scores of 43 and 9 in the first game at Lord's. Following his dismissal in the Trent Bridge Test, former England captain and batting legend Alastair Cook opened up on Crawley's poor run.

“I think a lot of it must be down to Crawley's judgment on and around the off-stump. Better judgment when leaving the ball better would help,” Cook said in BBC's Test Match Special.

“But it's hard when one of your main scoring shots is also one of your main weaknesses. That's a hard conundrum to get over.”

Talking about Crawley's inclination towards the front-foot drive, Cook said that it is a hard balance for the England batter – especially during the initial phase of the innings.

“A front-foot drive in Test cricket early on in your innings is a high-risk shot no matter who you're playing and certainly in England it is. But when he scores so many runs with it, it becomes a really hard balance to get,” said Cook, who holds the record for most Test runs for the country.

At the end of Day 2, Ollie Pope remained unbeaten on 51 off 74 balls while opener Alex Lees played 77 balls for his unbeaten 34. Trent Boult took the wicket of Crawley in the second over of the innings.