John Crawley moved to Hampshire from Lancashire in 2002 at the age of 30. He made his Championship debut at Canterbury and became the fourth player to score a century for Hampshire on first-class debut. He finished on 272, the highest maiden century for the county and it was a sign of things to come. He finished that first season with an average of 53.8.
John had played through the 1990s for Lancashire, Cambridge University and England. At the end of his Test career he had played 37 times for England, scoring four centuries among 1800 runs at an average of 34.61. This was generally considered a disappointing return for such a capable player but he could consider himself unlucky in his years at Hampshire. He regained his England place in 2002 and played in eight matches against Sri Lanka, India and Australia through the following winter, scoring 471 runs at an average of 47.1 yet he was never selected again.
Hampshire expected Shane Warne to replace Robin Smith as captain in 2003 but when he did not arrive John accepted the job. He never felt that captaincy affected his batting but the results suggested otherwise and after a somewhat lean season, he lost his England place. By contrast, in 2004 he averaged over 50 again, and at Trent Bridge Hampshire declared when he was 301*. This was only the third triple century ever scored for Hampshire and he was only 15 runs short of RH Moore’s record score for the county in 1937.
In the following year he averaged 46.14 and when Nottinghamshire arrived at the Ageas Bowl as Champions for the last match of the season he beat that score by ten runs but, when just a boundary short of equalling the record, Warne declared again. Nonetheless, Crawley holds the record as the only Hampshire batsman to have scored two triple centuries, whereas great players like Fry, Mead, Marshall, Greenidge, Richards and Robin Smith never reached that figure for the county. In 2006 he was more dominant still, with a highest of just 189 but six centuries and seven fifties, average 66.80. 2007 was fairly successful but when the runs flowed less freely he acknowledged that and in 2009 with just a couple of half-centuries he retired before the season ended.
He seemed technically best suited to the first-class game and played rarely in the T20 but in fact he played some important innings in 102 longer limited-overs matches for Hampshire, scoring over 3,000 runs and with an average of 36.04 which was better than his average for any other side. In 2007 he was Hampshire’s top-scorer with 65 and 68 in their semi final and final matches against Warwickshire and Durham. Sadly this was the only Lord’s Final Hampshire have lost – and the only Final for either of his counties when John had been defeated. On occasions John was a capable deputy wicket-keeper. He was a generally quiet, pleasant man who is now pursuing a career in business. In the first decade of the new century he played a vital role in the rehabilitation of Hampshire as one of the stronger county sides.