Harry Brook, who debuted for England in the international T20 tournament in the West Indies in January, has maintained an average of 107.44 runs from 12 innings as a batter for Yorkshire county in LV= County Championship’s Division One so far in 2022.
As per fellow sportsperson Ollie Pope, “He’s obviously been in ridiculous form this year and he’s 100 percent got the game to go out and take that into Test cricket as well. … He’s got the mindset, he loves batting and he’s all cricket as well, so I’m excited for him if he does get that opportunity this week. He’s a top player and an exciting prospect.”
Even captain of the England team, Ben Stokes, has supported Harry Brook who will be playing his debut Test match against South Africa soon. The England team will be on the field without Jonny Bairstow, who had unfortunately suffered a freak lower limb injury during an accident while playing golf in Leeds. Stokes said that while Bairstow will be deeply missed by the whole squad, the team is also looking forward to Harry Brook debuting with them, who comes into the team with a lot of promise.
“Harry is someone who has been spoken about a lot as representing England going forward,” Stokes has said at the Kia Oval stadium on Wednesday, which happened to be the eve of the deciding Test match.
Brook’s form during the initial stages of the County Championship was outright incredible. His chance to join the Test squad has arrived finally, although he had to wait almost 2 months since he played a first-class match.
Team England’s former Test batting coach Mark Ramprakash says that it has been five years since he first met Brooks during their tour of India in 2017, and based on what he saw then he has not been surprised at all by Brook’s success. He feels that Harry Brooks has every characteristic needed to play all formats of cricket, not only Test. He has shown well-balanced aggression, dancing down the wicket, and hitting the ball back over players’ heads.
Traditionally, young cricketers have gained international calls with impressive runs in the County Championship. And very recently some of them have been selected for Twenty20 or 50-over cricket tournaments. In T20s, it is generally easier for openers to catch the eye and face the maximum balls. They tend to benefit from the presence of fewer fielders out there in the powerplay phase and avoid the end of innings when batsmen generally face greater challenges having to balance fielders and scoring options. But Brook has successfully fetched runs in all formats of cricket, which only speaks of his versatility and intelligence.
“I was talking about Harry Brook during The Hundred last year and I said that this guy can be very good for England in all formats. He is the future, in my opinion. He’s got all the shots and can play in so many different circumstances,” Pietersen said on Betway Insider.
In other words, this Yorkshire player, who is set to replace Jonny Bairstow against South Africa, has the personality that you always want to see in young cricketers. So England is hopeful of Harry Brooks as their trump card in T20 cricket as well.