England closed the day 251-4, with Alex Lees (65), fellow starter Zak Crawley (62) and captain Joe Root (54) all breaking fifty; Crawley on Lees: “He has a great temperament for this level and it doesn’t seem to faze him too much”
Uncapped opener Alex Lees hit a half-century in his first start as an England player on day one of the warm-up match against Cricket’s West Indies President’s XI in Antigua.
Preparing for next week’s first Test against the West Indies, England closed the day 251-4, with Lees (65), fellow starter Zak Crawley (62) and captain Joe Root (54) all passing fifty, and Dan Lawrence (46th). ) approaching yours.
Durham southpaw Lees is the latest county cricket graduate to get his shot at the top of the innings in the England Test squad, with Dom Sibley, Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed all recently dropped from the position, al just like Crawley before he was called up during The Ashes in Australia.
Lees held the crease for five hours and faced 214 deliveries in hard work. He wasn’t as fluid as Crawley at the other end, who hit 11 bounds in his spirited 106-ball slam, nor Root, who was at his typically busy best in the middle.
Lees had no trouble in his long stint, finding the bounding rope six times when bowlers strayed wide, as well as clearing it once when he hit spinner Bryan Charles for six more lengths.
Charles took his time getting revenge, but he finally took out Lees midway through the final session, throwing him around his legs in the sweep. The spinner had also seen Crawley’s back before, hitting the batter with a spin bunt when he left too much of a gap between bat and bag as he swung into the fences.
Shermon Lewis bagged Root’s prize scalp, clean, before Charles dislodged Lees’ bails and then picked up Ben Stokes for 11, cutting off a booming drive to dodge.
Lawrence made the most of his chance at No. 4 in the closing session, hitting three fours and a six, and the Essex man will resume his innings just half a century into day two, alongside Jonny Bairstow (4th).
Zak Crawley tipped his new opening partner Alex Lees for a successful test run after the two shared a starting position of 88 runs on the opening day of England’s warm-up match against the chairman’s XI. West Indies Cricket in Antigua.
“Leesy played really well up top, it wasn’t easy to score and they actually shot him better than me,” Crawley said.
“I’ve always rated Alex, I always thought he was a very good player. He has a great temperament for this level and it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.”
“He’s really good at hitting in the middle, very laid back and set up for a pretty laid back atmosphere. I think he’ll do well at this level.”
“He puts them under pressure in slightly different ways than I do, so it works pretty well. He’s going to be very confident going into the week ahead because time in between is invaluable.”
Six weeks after England’s Ashes thrashed 4-0 in Australia, Crawley added: “After a disappointing tour, it’s good to have a decent day.
“I feel like in Australia we might have been a little hesitant and I’m looking forward to having a little more confidence and faith in what we do. I think we’re going to do that in the future.”
“We’re just looking to put it behind us. We’ve talked as a group about how we want to move forward and play and how we want to play from now on.”
“It’s a good opportunity to reset and start over and that’s what we’re looking to do.”
