England’s opening batter Zak Crawley believes that becoming braver against Australia on purpose, coupled with backing from coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes has been one of the big reasons behind his achieving success in the recently concluded Ashes. Crawley ended the recently-concluded Ashes as England's leading run-scorer with 480 runs in nine innings at an average of 53.3 and strike rate of 88.72. The opener’s place in the Test team was under threat after averaging 23 in last year’s home summer.