“You learn way more from your failures than your successes,” suggests Kent’s Zak Crawley, who hopes he has now found a formula for success.

Crawley admitted feeling under pressure for his England Test place after a series of low scores during what he described as his worst-ever summer.

After a season of scrutiny, Crawley closed with an unbeaten 57-ball 69 at The Oval to steer England to a nine-wicket win over South Africa last month and an attractive 79 to help Kent to safety in their final County Championship game against Somerset.

“Up and down is generous - I reckon it’s been more just down," reflected Crawley.

“It’s been a tough year, probably the worst summer I’ve ever had. But I’m pleased with myself that I could bounce back.

“I always thought I would, it just took me longer than I thought.

"It’s nice to find some rhythm and take a bit of confidence into the winter.”

Crawley hopes to have retained his England place ahead of a three-Test series in Pakistan in December, which is followed by two Tests in New Zealand next February.

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“Hopefully, all being well, I get picked in those squads," he said. "We’ll see what happens but I have got a lot of confidence going forward now.

“The new way I have been playing towards the end [of the summer], is more positive, and I think that suits me more.”

Crawley believes his summer of adversity could prove to be the making of him.

“You learn way more from your failures than your successes,” said the former Tonbridge School pupil.

“I have learnt an awful lot, mainly learnt what not to do! There’s plenty of things that I have done this year that I’m not going to do again.

“You learn from those things. If I can learn from it and get better from it, then it’s the best thing to happen to me.”

Both England Test skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum have put their faith in Crawley and he wishes he had bought into their attacking methods sooner.

He said: “I have learnt a lot from those two this year about the way they play the game, a positive mindset and backing yourself.

“They’re two champions of that, aren’t they? It finally clicked towards the end of the summer, the messages they were trying to give. I felt under pressure for my place so it’s hard to fully buy into that but I wish I’d bought into it from the start.

“It’s been so much fun playing under them and I’ve learnt a lot from them.”

As Crawley struggled for runs, the negativity clouding his mind affected him on the field too.

He explained: “When I was out of nick, I was just putting restrictions on where I could score, getting more and more negative, and going into my shell.

“It might not have come across like that with some of the shots I was playing but I find, when I’m negative, I don’t move my feet very well, I’m not moving my body and so it comes across like they are loose shots. But when I’m moving well, I’m getting in good positions and hitting those balls for four.

“It’s just more of a mindset thing and a positivity thing, and there’s stuff around my practice as well that I got slightly wrong.”

When asked whether there was a 'lightbulb' moment for him, Crawley replied: “I wouldn’t say so. It was more, over time, I just decided ‘I’m going to back myself here’.

“It’s a mental game at the end of the day. If you back yourself to score runs, you are going to score runs more often than not. I feel like I was just tentative this year and I decided, towards the back end, I was going to stop being tentative.

“Thankfully, I have started playing a bit better.”

Despite his name being commonly referenced on social media highlighting low score after low score, Crawley - who has 28 Test caps to his name but doesn't turn 25 until next February - doesn’t see it.

He said: "I have never really liked social media to be honest!

“I got rid of it before my exams when I was 18 because I was going on my phone too much. I have never really wanted it back.

“I hear lads talking about it - they’re getting sprayed on there. But even when it’s going well and they’re bigging you up, I don’t think you need to see that. I don’t like seeing it for that and, obviously, I don’t want to see myself getting sprayed either.

“I just like to stay in my own bubble. I listen to peoples’ opinions who I think matter to me and they’re the only opinions I care about.”

Crawley, who penned a one-year contract extension in August, believes Kent are good enough to shine at Division 1 level, having retained their status with back-to-back wins over Hampshire and Somerset.

Dogged by the fear of relegation for long periods of the summer, Crawley reckons they will be better prepared next term having experienced county cricket at the highest level for the first time in three years this summer.

“When we are at our best, we are a good side in Division 1," said Crawley, who played nine County Championship games, scoring 467 runs at an average of just 27.47. "We just haven’t strung our best together [often enough] in the past couple of years.

“If we put it together, I think we are a decent side. We just need to put it together more, early season, so we are not under pressure all the time.”

Crawley praised fast bowler Nathan Gilchrist, with the 22-year-old having taken six wickets in the win against Hampshire and eight in the victory at home to Somerset.

He said: "He's impressed me since he's come here. He's a real class bowler. When he's at his best, he's really good. I think he could be pushing higher honours soon.

"He just hits the pitch very hard on a good length and hits the seam, he gets it moving. He's got really good wrists.

"He's sharp enough too, bowling mid-80s and rushing a couple of their players. He's an unbelievable prospect, hopefully we can keep him fit and keep him with us for many years."

Despite legendary 46-year-old all-rounder Darren Stevens' departure, Crawley thinks his legacy will live on at Kent.

"I was thinking of Stevo before this game [against Somerset] actually, it's exactly how he's always played - try and take the game on, try and give the crowd something to watch," he said. "That's exactly how we want to play our cricket, as well, and there was plenty of people here loving the way we played.

"It was good fun and we have got a lot of young players who are really good prospects, Joey Evison, Tawanda Muyeye, Hamid Qadri, Nathan Gilchrist and Jordan Cox - a lot of good young players.

"The next 10 years should be good, hopefully."