Ashes 2017-18: Mark Butcher Believes Mason Crane has Ability to Become a Star

Mason Crane has had an impressive Test debut picking up the priced wicket of Usman Khawaja in the fifth and final Ashes Test. He could not prevent his team from trailing by a huge margin as the Aussie batsmen completely dominated the English bowlers, but Crane drew a lot of praise for his disciplined bowling. Crane bowled 48 over in the first innings and gave away 193 runs at an economy of four runs per over.

Australia took a 313 runs lead in the first innings courtesy centuries by the Marsh brothers and Usman Khawaja. England batsmen had a dismal start to their second innings as they were reduced to 93/4 at stumps on day four, which leaves them on the brink of an innings defeat on the final day of the match.

In the middle of all the poor performances by the English players, Crane has been an exception, and Mark Butcher has praised the leg-spinner and believes that he has the mental strength to become a star in the future and will be an investment for the national side.

Butcher said:

“Mason Crane acquitted himself well on his first day in Test cricket. I’m not surprised that he’s settled quickly because one of his great strengths and, for me, one of the things that make him stand out among English spinners of many vintages is that he doesn’t seem to carry a lot of the mental fragility that his predecessors have done.”

“Something that isn’t transferable into statistics in first-class cricket, and all those types of things that people used as examples of why he shouldn’t have been on the tour in the first place, is a mental capability that is far and away above his experience and his years.” 

“He certainly isn’t there yet and he’ll need to play 10 to 15 Test matches, much in the same way that people like Shane Warne did before they really started to make a mark on the game. But I genuinely think that he is an investment for English cricket and one that will pay dividends in the future.”

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