Harry Brook sparkles as England’s crown jewel lives up to the hype

When Harry Brook walked out to bat with the scoreboard reading 93 for three, England’s Ashes hopes were not the only thing on the line.

Brook has long been anointed the jewel in English batting’s crown, with judges as good as Joe Root, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson believing he can be, well, the next Joe Root.

But Australia hadn’t seen the best of him. In fact, for those Australians who have been quick to dismiss the progress England have made in the Bazball era, Brook seemed to embody their overblown self-belief.

Sure, he had hit hundreds for fun in Pakistan and New Zealand. But now, after five Ashes knocks had produced a best of 50, and thrown up questions about his ticker against the short ball, he was facing the reality of life up against the big boys. As far as Australia were concerned, Brook’s reputation was at stake too.

Their scepticism was understandable. In the first Test at Edgbaston, he had carelessly allowed a ball from off-spinner Nathan Lyon to balloon off his pads and bounce behind him on to the stumps. In the second innings, he pulled Lyon low to midwicket. Scores of 32 and 46 were promising but unfulfilled.

Brook hit 75 as England beat Australia by three wickets as they look towards the fourth test 

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Then, at Lord’s, he looked frenetic against the short ball, which finally proved his undoing on the third morning when he slapped Mitchell Starc high to cover. His 50 runs were offset by the worry that Australia had unearthed a weakness. He seemed like the least of their concerns.

His first innings at Headingley only fuelled the doubters. Promoted to No 3 in the absence of the injured Ollie Pope, Brook had been unconvincing as England replied to Australia’s 263 on the first evening – lucky, it seemed, to score as many as three by the time he edged Pat Cummins to second slip.

And so when Zak Crawley was caught behind aiming an optimistic drive at Mitchell Marsh yesterday morning, Brook emerged into the Leeds sunshine facing all manner of pressures.

It helped, no doubt, that he was now batting at No 5, away from the new ball – the spot from which he has scored all four of his Test centuries. And for that he could thank Moeen Ali, who had suggested to coach Brendon McCullum on Saturday night that he should be the one to go in No 3, and take the attack to the Australians. It was a typically selfless gesture, for which Brook set about paying him back.

Partners came and went: Root before lunch, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow in quick succession after it. Moments before Bairstow’s dismissal, Brook had reached 1,000 runs in his 10th game, and from only 1,058 balls – a Test record.

But Brook was determined this would be no consolation prize: the number that mattered was the 80 England still needed for victory, and there were only the bowlers to come.

At this stage, he had 47, having earlier creamed Scott Boland for successive fours through the off side, driven the first ball of a new spell from Starc for four more, and cut the barely used off-spinner Todd Murphy for another.

And when Cummins tested out the short-ball theory, once again with men lurking on the fence, Brook pulled him with real authority into a small gap between fine leg and deep backward square.

Brook’s performance saw him become the fastest batter to complete 1000 runs in Test cricket

Brook was also aided by the performance of England’s Chris Woakes and Mark Wood 

With Chris Woakes rising to the challenge in his comeback Test, an increasingly emboldened Brook back-cut Cummins for another boundary, and flayed Murphy through the covers. Headingley erupted.

There were only 21 needed when he finally succumbed to misjudgment, caught in two minds against a short ball from Starc that he ended up flapping to mid-off, where Cummins just avoided being knocked over by his own bowler. Brook had made 75 from 93 balls, and very much left his mark.

Back in the dressing-room, he had what he described as a ‘little blow-up’, adding: ‘I like getting us over the line, and it was annoying that I didn’t today.’

But the guts of Woakes and Mark Wood spared him the need for further self-flagellation, and it was left to Stokes to express his team’s gratitude for the toughest of batting assignments: a big score in the fourth innings of a must-win Ashes Test.

‘The way Brooky controlled the game from ball one was amazing,’ said England’s captain. ‘He went out there and put the pressure straight back on to them.

‘The way he played with Woakesy in that partnership was high-class. For such a young lad, in a high-pressure situation in the Ashes, that was incredible.

‘We’ve all seen what he can do with the bat. He’s an incredibly gifted player, and I think he’s only going to get better and better the more pressure situations he’s put in.’

Australia hadn’t seen anything like the best of Brook. With a toehold in the series, England will be hoping they still haven’t.

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