 In 1981 he played for England Schools who were captained by Hugh Morris and included Peter Moores, the future England coach.He spent his early career playing second XI cricket for Lancashire and was 12th man for the 5th day of the 1982 Test match v India after Ian Botham had broken his toe) and Leicestershire in addition to minor counties cricket for Cheshire, for whom he played a handful of List A matches.Crawley moved to Scotland through work in July 1993, as National Sales Manager (Director Designate) for the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh (eventually becoming Managing Director of the Caledonian Brewery in 2001) and qualified to play for Scotland through residence.