Zak Crawley's SA20 Woes: Coach Adrian Birrell Faces Tough Decision on Sunrisers Opening Slot

From the beautiful Table Mountain that towers over Newlands Stadium to the electric atmosphere at St George's Park in the Friendly City of Gqeberha, South Africa's SA20 has been an experience that players and fans alike won't forget anytime soon.

Birrell weighs in on Crawley's poor form

On the field, the SA20 has been everything but a pleasant experience for England's Test opener Zak Crawley who has struggled to find form and rhythm playing for the defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

The 26-year-old is currently averaging 11 runs in eight innings with five single-digit scores including three ducks.

With such dismal returns at the top of the order, Crawley could just have played his last SA20 game at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday.

The Sunrisers Eastern Cape are still fighting for a spot in the top four in order to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament which means the coaching staff will have a big decision to make going into the last week of the round-robin stage of the tournament.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape coach, Adrian Birell, weighed in on Crawley's struggles at the top of the order.

"T20 is a brutal game if you're out of form. It doesn't give time. In 50-over cricket, you can bide your time a little bit and in Test cricket, you can bide your time and see a few balls and spend time at the crease. In T20 cricket, you can't do that," Birell told SportsBoom.com.   

"You've got to get going. it's been hard for him. He's been getting out to straight balls but also caught behind off wide balls. He's been getting out in two modes. He's a quality player and I chose him because of his ability and some of the innings I've seen him play."

"Unfortunately, he's got a 38 in the one game which was really good, since then he's struggled. He's not the only one that's struggled for us. We've got other guys that have also struggled a bit. I really feel for him. He's a great guy who puts in the hard work and tries his utmost best to turn it around."

Will Crawley be dropped?

Though Birell did not plainly come out to say that they would be moving on from Crawley for the opener role, the 64-year-old did admit that there are available options for the opener.

"We are going to have to look at it and come up with the plan for the next game. We've obviously backed him until now. We'll take a day off. There's a little time ahead of us to come up with a plan," said Birell.

"Jordan (Hermann) could open. He opened last year. He opened in the first game of this season as well. He's a definite candidate. We've also got a number of others that could do the job. We have got other options."

The Sunrisers Eastern Cape will take on MI Cape Town at Newlands Stadium on Wednesday.