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Harry Brook’s international career has moved so smoothly that some started to question him when he averaged 30 in a series victory. Although Brook’s approach was questioned during Sri Lanka’s recent victory at The Oval, he admits that he is attempting to avoid becoming paralysed by overanalysis as he gets ready to skipper England for the first time at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
After making between 32 and 56 in his opening four innings of the series against Sri Lanka, Brook finished with 19 and 3 in the last Test of the English season. If the results were lacklustre, what caught people’s attention was his style at the crease: Michael Vaughan accused him of “taking the mick out of the game” because of his obvious frustration when Sri Lanka bowled wide outside his off stump.
For England, Harry Brook has had a demanding season. He was the only player to play in all six of their home Test matches as well as the T20 World Cup in June.
Only three days after the fifth and final ODI of the Australia series, he will take off for Pakistan for October’s Test visit. He captained the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred during the three weeks that separated the West Indies and Sri Lanka series.
On the eve of his Trent Bridge debut as England captain, Brook appeared uncharacteristically at ease. He smiled during his pre-match news conference and dismissed the notion that he had ever felt a need for leadership. Although he acknowledged that his Test summer had not gone as planned, he downplayed the idea that a tough season had left him mentally exhausted.
“Because I wasn’t scoring the runs I wanted to, I probably was [feeling] a little bit [tired],” Brook stated. “But, I would have said, ‘I’ll simply continue on,’ if I had faced Sri Lanka and scored two hundreds. No, not really, though. I adore playing cricket, and I want to do it as often as I can. Although I believe that breaks are necessary occasionally, I was feeling rather relaxed.
Obviously, my performance wasn’t what I had hoped for. It’s not going to happen that I get a hundred every innings, is it? Professional sports are challenging. Though those things do happen, I felt like I batted pretty well against the West Indies and didn’t play as well as I wanted to against Sri Lanka. You take some time to reflect about it and return to Pakistan maybe more determined.”
Prior to this year’s Hundred, where he managed five victories in six games finished, Brook’s most significant captaincy experience was with the England Under-19s, for which he captained eleven Youth ODIs, five of which were during the 2018 World Cup. He hasn’t played many 50-over cricket matches since then. He has played in 30 List A matches, half of which have been full ODIs. His record in these matches is not very good, with 407 runs at 29.07 and three half-centuries.
Batting at No. 4, he will try to keep things simple against Australia. “I’m just going to go out there and watch the ball as closely as possible,” stated the player. “You start to consider new things, your technique, and other things if you occasionally have bad marks. I’m just going to go out there and play based only on instinct, watching the ball as closely as possible.”
Jos Buttler is still recovering from a calf injury and will rejoin the team for their November Caribbean tour; Brook is merely filling in as captain for Buttler. Buttler was with the team on Wednesday. “I might pick his brains here and there,” added Brook, “but he’s said I’ve got full rein to do whatever I want.”
As someone who has struggled in one-day internationals, Buttler has challenged Brook to “identify those moments” in the field where he can shift the course of the game. A hint of that impulse was evident during the Hundred when Brook declared he would allow his bowlers to make their own decisions: “Just do whatever it is you feel like doing.” The only negative outcome would be to be hit for a boundary and have a dot ball as the next ball.”
Before February’s Champions Trophy, England will play just three ODI series. This one is the first since Rob Key said that Brendon McCullum will take over as limited-overs coach as part of a “strategic restructure” of the senior squad. As seen by Ben Duckett’s elevation to open the batting on Thursday, there will likely be further convergence between forms.
According to Brook, he hasn’t talked to McCullum very often since the latter has given Marcus Trescothick, his assistant coach for Tests, more authority. Brook said, “At some point, it’s all going to merge into one.” “We want to go out there and entertain the crowd, take the game on, try to take wickets and put the pressure on their bowlers.”
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Additionally, Brook anticipates that this new task will prove to be energising after finishing the Test summer at The Oval on autopilot. “Though I have only been here for two days, the way the boys are conducting themselves in training looks really laid back right now. Everyone is excited to get outside and enjoy ourselves.”
India
