Though born in Leicester, Crawford was brought up in Surrey where his father had become chaplain at the Cane Hill mental hospital at Coulsdon.
[3] With Surrey having strength in both bowling and batting at this time, Crawford moved in 1901 to play first-class cricket for Leicestershire, having a birth qualification for the team.
He became pretty much a regular in the first team as a teenager, featuring in 15 county games in his first season, though his figures were not impressive, with only 11 first-class wickets and a batting average of 13.96.
[6] The match, fairly easily won by the Australians, was notable for the bowling performance of Herbert Knutton, who had played one first-class match for Warwickshire in 1894 without taking a wicket and this time took nine Australian first-innings wickets for 100 runs, adding a tenth when the touring side needed just 42 to win; Knutton never played first-class cricket again.
He played regularly again for Leicestershire in 1903, when his older brother Vivian (usually known as "Frank"), joined the team and also acted as secretary to the county cricket club, but although Reginald managed 40 wickets again his aggregate of runs fell to 461 and his average to just 12.13; his highest score for the season was only 35.