Ashes star Zak Crawley’s millionaire dad was Britain’s ‘fifth highest paid man’

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    England star Zak Crawley has brought great pride to his family name, but he's not the first member of his lineage to make it big.

    The Bromley-born cricket talent climbed the ranks at Kent before making his senior debut for the club in 2015, earning his international bow four years later. Crawley had his first taste of the Ashes during the 2021/22 series and is back among Brendon McCullum's ranks for the current campaign against Australia.

    For all the hard work that led to those dreams being realised, however, one could argue the tale doesn't compare with that of his father. And it was just after Crawley Jr. was born in 1998 that his dad, Terry, once established himself as the fifth-highest-paid man in the United Kingdom.

    The 'rugs-to-riches' success story started out fitting carpets for £100 a week but had a greater calling.

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    After making the transition to day trading, Crawley Sr. quickly changed his fortunes and found he had a knack for spotting opportunity on the floors. He even became known as 'Terry the Till' for his ability to produce money after thriving on the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE).

    Terry set up Crawley Futures in 1988 and steadily built his fortune in the years that followed. However, it wasn't until 1999 that he made the Sunday Times' Rich List when he raked in a reported £23million.

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    Only Elton John, Sting, Eric Clapton and Phil Collins earned more than the former carpet-slogger that particular year. And the self-made man has had a direct influence on shaping Zak's cricket career, even turning up during Covid-19 lockdown to help keep his son fresh.

    "Dad would give me a few throw-downs to make sure I could feel bat on ball and I worked on my fitness," Crawley Jr. previously told The Times. "But I also started to think about the game a lot. My dad thinks about it a lot too so I bounced ideas around with him.

    "I felt like I had a good plan about how I would go about things when cricket restarted. I loved talking to him about how I should be as a sportsman, how I should behave."

    Crawley, who will represent London Spirit in this year's Hundred, impressed in England's first innings against Australia, knocking 61 off 73 balls before the hosts declared for 393. Things didn't go to plan in the second salvo, however, after he was dismissed for just seven from 25.

    The 25-year-old won't be lacking for motivation as he looks to bring his country their first Ashes triumph since 2015. After all, he's got his dad as a shining example of what's possible through hard work and more than a little determination.

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    • England Cricket Team

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