CWB continues to look at the cricketing lives of those retiring at the end of this month
If ever a player lived up to his nickname, it was ‘Creepy’ Crawley. He seems to have crept through two decades of cricket leaving no discernable trace. How any player can have an international career spanning nine years and 37 matches and yet fill it with so few memorable moments is beyond me. Even his finest moment came amidst a much more memorable performance – his 156* was made during Murali’s match at the Oval in 1998. If anything, he will be remembered more for walking out on Lancashire during 2002 to join Hampshire, thus pre-empting Chris Schofield’s acrimonious departure by almost 5 years.
In first class cricket, Crawley scored almost 25,000 runs over 19 seasons, approximately 24,996 of them on the leg side. He also kept wicket occasionally, including once filling in for a session during a test match, but was more often to be found wandering the outfield looking vaguely cadaverous.
Where most cricketers spend their winters playing cricket elsewhere, Crawley has recently used his to study for qualifications in marketing and has been part of the sales and marketing team at the Rose Bowl for the past few years.
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