INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2025
Harry Brook has played a key part for England in the series so far © Getty
Temperatures flared during England’s narrow 22-run win at Lord’s with players from both sides engaging in banter and verbal battles amid dramatic scenes on the fourth and fifth days. “Them lads went hard at Creeps [Crawley] and Ducky [Duckett] on that night when Bumrah bowled that single over. We watched that and we reassessed and we thought it was the right time to go back at them,” said Harry Brook speaking ahead of the fourth Test at Manchester.
The game saw a thrilling finish late on the fifth day, with England managing to defend a 193-run target. Brook revealed he’d received several compliments on the Test. “I’ve had a lot of compliments. Everybody said it was awesome to watch and it looked like there was 11 versus two out there when we were fielding. It was good fun, it was tiring but it made fielding a lot more enjoyable,” he said.
“Yeah, I think so. I think it put them under a little bit more pressure. Obviously, chasing a low score but on a tough pitch. It might have given them that little bit of added pressure. Thankfully, they ended up crumbling and we won the game” said Brook when asked if the verbal battle helped them mount pressure on the opposition.
“Every game that we’ve played so far has gone into the last hour of the game, which you do not see very often. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me saying it’s been an amazing series. . . Everybody said that the Lords game was one of the best games that they’ve watched. It’s been an amazing series and I’m looking forward to the rest of it” he added.
Brook was also all praise for Liam Dawson, who was added to the squad after Shoaib Bashir was ruled out with a broken finger, “He’s a wily old fox, very experienced. He’s a very skillful cricketer as well. He’s played everywhere, played against everyone. . . Hopefully he can land it in the foot-holes and create a bit of spice out of there and some opportunities to take wickets. He’s obviously a very good batter as well, he’s got nearly 20 First-Class hundreds. That’s adding to our strength in batting. He’s a good bloke, he’s willing to always fight for the team. He’s very competitive and it’s good to have him here,” he said.
In the intervening period since the Lord’s Test, Joe Root displaced Brook as the No. 1 batter in ICC’s Test rankings with the latter admitting that he is not in the same league as the England legend. “Everybody wants to be number one, don’t they? Him probably more than anybody else. He’s a phenomenal player. I’m not in the same league as him, so I’ll happily let him have it. He’s played for 12-13 years or however long he’s played. In my opinion, he’s the best Test batter of all time, so I’ll let him have that one for now,” said Brook when asked about his competitive rivalry with Root.
Dawson comes in for Bashir
England have announced their playing XI for the fourth Test in Manchester starting on Wednesday (July 23). On expected lines, Liam Dawson has come in for the injured Shoaib Bashir. The rest of the lineup remains the same.
Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer
© Cricbuzz
