Hurricanes sign Crawley after Ponting's Ashes praise

Ricky Ponting last summer identified Zak Crawley as a lynchpin of the England Test team for years to come, and has now recruited the opener to the Hobart Hurricanes.

It's been a big day of Big Bash moves, with Hobart's announcement of Crawley's signing offset by news top draft pick Liam Livingstone and last summer's player of the final Laurie Evans have both been ruled out of the tournament.

Livingstone has withdrawn from his four-game stint, citing workload factors after he was a surprise addition to England's Test squad to tour Pakistan that had already halved his availability from when the Renegades made him the BBL's first ever No.1 draft pick in August.

Meanwhile the Perth Scorchers terminated their deal with Evans – a gold-level pic who was available for the entire season – after the Englishman returned a positive result on an anti-doping test conducted during the Hundred season in August.

Crawley will fill a gap for the Hurricanes when Pakistan allrounder Shadab Khan departs for a white-ball series against New Zealand, with three ODIs between January 11 and 15.

The 24-year-old right-handed opener averages a touch under 30 in T20 cricket, with a strike rate a touch over 145.

He also played five games at The Hundred this year alongside Hurricanes stalwart Ben McDermott, where he hit 131 runs at strike rate of 120.18 for the London Spirit.

Last summer, with the opening spot a major headache for England's Test side, Crawley snared the attention of Ponting – the Hurricanes’ head of strategy – with 77 in Sydney.

"He showed the mettle, he showed the fight, he showed the intent," Ponting told cricket.com.au at the time.

"He was happy to try and put a bit of pressure back on (Pat) Cummins and (Mitchell) Starc. If they overpitched, he whacked it down on the ground and if they were a fraction short, he was good enough to pull them through midwicket.

"I liked what I saw and, more importantly, I liked the attitude."

Crawley has played for England 31 times across Test and one-day cricket, and will make his KFC BBL debut this summer.

“I’m really excited to take part in the Big Bash for the first time,” Crawley said in a statement.

"From afar, the Hurricanes seem to be awash with talent both in terms of the list they have built for on-field success, but also the quality list of support stuff they have on it. I’m looking forward to taking part in what I hope will be a very successful summer."

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