Harry Brook said he had no regrets, but admitted he played ‘shocking’ shots to be dismissed in the first two Ashes Tests, and says he must change his approach
England star Harry Brook has conceded he needs to rein his batting in, labelling the shots he played to get out in both Perth and Brisbane as “shocking”.
After arriving as England’s great hope for this summer’s Ashes, Brook has encapsulated the tourists’ issues with 98 runs at 24.50 across the first two NRMA Insurance Tests.
He was unlucky to glove a ball down legside on day one of the series, but edges to wider balls in separate innings at Perth Stadium and the Gabba have drawn criticism.
Brook has for a large part defined the BazBall era, blooded into Test cricket by Brendon McCullum in 2022 and averaging 55.05 across 32 Tests with 10 centuries.
His strike-rate of 87.36 is also the highest of any player in Test history with at least 1000 runs.
But the 26-year-old conceded in Adelaide on Tuesday that may need to change somewhat for the rest of this series, with England in must-win territory at 2-0 down.
“Sometimes we’ve got to rein it in a little bit,” Brook said.
“Learn when to absorb the pressure a little bit more and then realise when the opportunity arises to put pressure back on them.
“I feel like I probably haven’t done that as well as I usually do in this series so far.
“There’s no reason behind that, I just haven’t identified them situations well enough.”
Asked whether the bouncier Australian wickets had contributed to his dismissals given he usually dispatches balls outside off stump, Brook was blunt.
“No, they were shocking shots,” he responded.
“I’ll admit that every day of the week. Especially that one in Perth. It was nearly a bouncer and I’ve tried to drive it. It was just bad batting.
“The one in Brisbane, I’ve tried to hit for six. That’s what I mean when I try to say that I need to rein it in a little bit.
“I can almost just take that and hit it for one and get down the other end.
“I’ll be the first person to stand up and say that they were bad shots. I don’t regret them, but if I was there again, I’d try and play it slightly differently.”
Brook had been the hero of England’s revival from 2-0 down to draw the 2023 Ashes, hitting a fourth-innings 75 to help the hosts home in the third Test at Leeds.
England captain Ben Stokes urged his side to stand up and be counted after last week’s loss in Brisbane, saying there was no room for weakness in his dressing room.
“There’s them pressure situations, which we haven’t been really that good at so far,” Brook said.
“Everybody realises that and we’ve just got to stand up in them certain situations, read the game slightly better, which we’ve spoken about a lot.
“Just have a little bit of grit and determination about you. That might be the time to try and put it back on them. That might be the time to absorb.”
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue
