Edgbaston [UK]: England batter Harry Brook brushed aside comparisons with former Three Lions batting great Kevin Pietersen, saying while one has to look to other star batters and add their game’s positive aspects to their own, he still wants to be on his own as a batter rather than facing comparisons.
Brook was one of the stars of England’s 241-run win over the West Indies in the second Test at Nottingham, managing scores of 36 and 109, with the latter being his first century in the UK in front of home fans. His consistent performances have taken him to the career-best third ranking in the ICC Test Rankings, surpassing stars like Babar Azam, Daryl Mitchell, Steve Smith, and Rohit Sharma.
The 25-year-old has been extremely consistent for England in Tests and is often regarded as the ‘Next Big Thing’ in world cricket. He has scored 1,376 runs in 14 Tests at an average of 62.54 and a strike rate of 90.70. He has scored five centuries and eight fifties in 23 innings, with the best score of 186.
Brook’s work across all formats has been more about productivity than potential. The batter’s absence was felt really heavily by England in India, where the ‘Bazball’ style of cricket was exposed on Indian surfaces by Indian spinners and pacers alike. In between his fourth and fifth Test ton, Brook’s 14 inning run had plenty of games, be it a chase-saving 75 against Australia in Headingley during a crucial win in the third Test or a brilliant 85 in the final Test at The Oval, which England also won to level the series 2-2 and comeback from being 2-0 down after the first two Tests.
But the century during the Nottingham Test against the Windies, during the third innings of the match under the lights against a string West Indies pace attack, is a big standout. It was calm, but destructive, which is an accurate description of Brook’s brand of cricket. He was batting with one of the game’s all-time greats, Joe Root at the non-strikers’ end.
“I want to be my own batter. I want to be Harry Brook, not anybody else. Nowadays, you have to take different parts of other batters and put it into your game. An example is Rooty [Joe Root] playing the ball so late, or AB de Villiers hitting all around the ground, Kevin Pietersen for his power. So yeah, you do see little bits of other people’s games and try to fit them into yours. I have done a little bit of that… but not too much,” said Brook as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Brook’s average of 62.54 is the second-highest in Test history among players with a minimum of 20 Test innings. It is below the batting average of legendary Australian batter Donald Bradman, who scored 6,996 runs in 52 Tests at an average of 99.94, with 29 centuries and 13 fifties.
On being informed about his batting average and sitting just next to Bradman, Brook acknowledged that it could fluctuate, for good or bad, and expressed hope to keep it high.
“That could definitely fluctuate either way. Hopefully I can keep if that high. But if not, so be it,” he added.
Also, Brook holds Test cricket as his biggest priority currently, wanting to play every game in the whites for the Three Lions.
“Test cricket and playing for England is my priority. I don’t want to think too far ahead. The Ashes [in 2025/26] are a long way away and we have a lot of Test cricket before then. My main focus is to stay in the moment and not get ahead of myself,” said the youngster as quoted by Sky Sports.
Set to lead Northern Superchargers during this season of The Hundred in the UK, Brook said he does not know yet if he wants to captain England.
“This is my first captaincy role, so we will see how that goes and then maybe I will have a different answer for you in a couple of months,” said Brook.
“I do not see anything happening any time soon. I will just stay in the moment and focus on Test cricket.”
“I think I will be a fairly chilled captain. We have said all training will be optional. There will be nothing put on you as a player. Just be chilled, relaxed, go out there and express yourself and play,” he concluded, as quoted by Sky Sports.
The third Test against West Indies will take place at Edgbaston on Friday.