Sometimes Harry Brook makes everything look easy, but some of his recent experiences have been anything but painless. After scoring a sublime century to guide his team to the World Cup semi-finals, the England white-ball captain described his last few months as “probably the hardest of my life”.
Brook endured a disappointing Ashes, scoring just two half-centuries and averaging 39.77, his second worst in a Test series in which he has played more than one innings. It was towards the end of his time in Australia that it was revealed that he had become involved in a drunken altercation with a Wellington nightclub bouncer on the eve of the final match of his first overseas tour as international captain, a controversy that has dogged him ever since.
“It’s probably been the toughest winter of my life to be honest,” he said in Pallekele, after England secured victory over Pakistan and gained the two points they needed to claim a place in the last four. “A lot of things happened behind the scenes. Well, not behind the scenes. But it’s nice to see some rewards for my hard work.”
For the first time in his international T20 career, Brook batted at number 3, a move suggested by the team’s head coach Brendon McCullum on the morning of the match and communicated to the rest of the squad during the pre-match meeting. The result was another excellent performance against Pakistan, against whom he now averages 62.66 in 10 T20 innings, and 84.1 in the same number of knocks in Tests. They were now on the receiving end of his highest score in both formats.
“Baz was the brains there. He had the discussion with me this morning about increasing the order,” Brook said. “Partly it was because of my past and history against Pakistan, but also to try to maximize the power play. I know we were losing wickets but my job was still to put them under pressure all the time.”
The experiment was such a success that Brook may remain there for the foreseeable future. “I don’t know yet, that’s something for me and Baz to talk about. But the longer I bat, the better it is for me. It’s a lot easier to compete against their best bowlers in the middle period when you’re already set.”
Exactly four years before this match, Shaheen Shah Afridi, who took four wickets, including Brook’s with his last ball, had played and won a T20 alongside him for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan PSL. “I think that was the best innings of his life,” he said of Brook’s effort here.
“He has improved a lot. I have never seen a batsman like him. Today he was ready for every ball, he was really prepared for us. The way he took responsibility as captain, he played a very good innings today.”
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