ENGLAND arrived in Adelaide today with the fitness of key batsman John Crawley at the centre of their plans as they attempt to devise a strategy which will enable them to overcome Australia's powerful line-up in the second Test.

The former Lancashire skipper started the tour with serious competition for his place in the Test line-up from Robert Key and despite impressive early tour form from his younger rival, Crawley retained his place for the opening Test 384-runs hammering at the Gabba.

It was faith that was repaid with Crawley hitting an unbeaten 69 in England's first innings at Brisbane and demonstrated a technique, which few of his team-mates could match against the leg-spin of Shane Warne.

He followed that up with an unbeaten 43 and a 55 against Australia A in Hobart, but his half-century came at a cost and he sustained a badly bruised right hip after mistiming an attempted pull shot which could put his participation at the Adelaide Oval this Thursday in jeopardy.

Key would be a natural replacement for Crawley having impressed throughout the tour, but most notably yesterday when he hit an unbeaten 174 to help save the game for England at the Bellerive Oval which has put him firmly back into England's thoughts for this week.

But with both batsmen in form, England were also considering the option of playing seven specialist batsmen to try and shore up a line-up which slumped to 79 all out in the last Test in only 127 minutes of play.

That will be considered further once England have had a chance to test Crawley's fitness during training at the Oval tomorrow, having spent most of today travelling from Tasmania with spirits lifted after avoiding defeat despite following on in Hobart.

"It was good to come away with a draw rather than being beaten and going into the next Test on a negative note," admitted Key. "I know we have a lot to do but there's a bit of pride to play for and we did well to save the game yesterday."