Harry Brook slams 114 not out from 49 balls – including 30 runs off one over – in England’s thumping win over Sri Lanka in first T20; Sky Sports’ Eoin Morgan says Brook is producing “genius time and time again in all formats” – Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Ben Stokes no longer plays for England – but that has not stopped him from rating players who do or did. Harry Brook is, in many ways, a modern-day Kevin Pietersen. A player with jaw-dropping batting ability who can take any bowling attacking apart and make accessing any part of the ground look routine but also prone to driving fans mad with a daft dismissal. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player In Southampton on Tuesday, though, we only saw the best of Brook as he tonked a 42-ball hundred – England’s second-fastest in T20Is – against Sri Lanka, with his 10 fours and half a dozen sixes including six boundaries in one over off Dunith Wellalage.
The swashbuckling innings was played in front of England legend Pietersen, who has joined head coach Brendon McCullum’s white-ball set-up as a mentor, up to and including the 50-over World Cup in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe in late 2027. And Brook’s knock lured Stokes onto social media to say that, in his opinion, the Yorkshireman’s ability outstrips that of Pietersen. Stokes, on the day he struck a half-century for Durham against Worcestershire in the County Championship, wrote: “I don’t even think the genius of KP could come close to what Brook has talent-wise. You are an absolute freak, Harry.
You’re mint to watch.” Shortly after, former Test captain Stokes added: “Bit harsh on KP actually. Both are freak talents but Brook is better in my opinion.” So, who do you think is the most talented of the two? Vote in the poll below. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Brook still has a long way to go to match Pietersen longevity-wise.
KP amassed almost 14,000 international runs between 2004 and 2014, a number he was prevented from adding to after a fallout with the ECB truncated his England career. Brook has over 6,500 international runs since debuting in 2022, so, all being well will eclipse Pietersen’s haul at some stage. At 27, he could have over a decade left – and he hopes to use Pietersen’s expertise to become even better. Brook said of Pietersen, after revealing he had watched highlights of his innings before Tuesday’s T20: “He looked at batting slightly differently, in a similar way to me as well.
“He always wants to put the bowlers under pressure. “He was a phenomenal player. The way he accessed different areas of the ground made it really tricky to captain and bowl to, and I’m looking forward to conversations about that. “I mentioned to him earlier about trying to help me read surfaces and using my skills to perform on that pitch as well, not just for white-ball cricket, Test cricket as well.
“Hopefully he can have a big impact on my career. He’s a hero to a lot of players. We grew up watching him and it’s just awesome to have a man of his calibre in the changing room.” Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Brook’s sizzling century against Sri Lanka was his first in any international cricket since a T20 ton versus Pakistan in February, during a World Cup match in Pallekele. It was worth the wait.
The batter’s picking up of length was extraordinary in an innings highly praised by Sky Sports pundits Eoin Morgan and Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara said of Brook: “He reads length so quickly. He is very light and nimble on his feet. He has oodles of time and devastating power.
On the back foot against spin, he is very good at hitting over long-on, long-off, even square. “Then against the pace there is the scoop and reverse paddle or punch down the ground for six. He has everything.” Morgan added: “I think Harry is one of our very best. It is difficult to find a player of recent generations that has Brook’s ability.
“He is coming into his peak years, yet we are seeing absolute genius time and time again in all formats of the game.” Morgan is right about all formats, too. Brook’s last Test ton may have come over a year ago, against India at The Kia Oval, but he has knuckled down in red-ball matches of late, batting far more responsibly while notching five fifties across the summer in the international game’s longest form. In the international game’s shortest form on Tuesday night, he did get a hundred – and how. He can now chat about it with KP, a bloke he may even have more talent than… Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
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