If Crawley is our strongest opener I shudder to think what the rest of them must be like. What has he actually done in all the tests he has played (apart from one massive score that would appear to be the outlier amongst a litany of failures)?
Of course he does, as do I. The lad very clearly isn't good enough to open the batting in test match cricket. Why would you not want to pick your strongest player in each position? What does Rob Key say about Crawley?
Crawley just isn't a test match opening batsman. For all the attacking intent of the new coach and captain, the openers' job is still to protect their wicket and see off the first new ball. Crawley is poor at both of these roles.
I take your general point Tyrone but I do think there’s a slight ‘rose tinted spectacles’ thing going on with your recollections of Rovers fans supporting the board. I remember going on all sorts of ‘sack the Board’ protests during that era (might not have been under Jim Smith tbf) and there was a general feeling/accusation that the board didn’t want/couldn’t afford promotion (was there not?)