PAUL NEWMAN: Chubby as a kid and nicknamed ‘heavy roller’, now Brook can be England’s next big thing

Harry Brook will look the epitome of the modern England cricketer when he makes his much-anticipated Test debut against South Africa tomorrow.

But his journey to the top could easily have been derailed by issues that had nothing to do with his ability with the bat.

Martin Speight took Brook under his wing when he arrived as a shy 14-year-old looking anything but a prospective professional at Sedbergh School in Cumbria where the former Sussex and Durham batsman is now director of cricket.

‘When I played you didn’t have to be super fit, it was just how good a cricketer you were,’ Speight tells Sportsmail. ‘But you have to be an athlete now and Harry was not, shall we say, very athletic when he arrived.

‘During lockdown I had a Zoom call with Harry and he described himself when he was at school as the heavy roller. He was very poor at running and not athletic at all but clearly a very talented cricketer.’

So Speight got to work with the young Yorkshireman as much off the field as on it. ‘He knew he had to get better,’ says Speight. ‘We arranged for him to see the school athletics coach and for two years he spent two sessions a week basically learning to run well.

‘He got himself into the gym and started working hard at everything he did. It took him a while but he became the whole package. That was key to his development.’

But overhauling the heavy roller was far from the most significant part Speight has played in the making of an exciting talent who will step in for the injured Jonny Bairstow at the Kia Oval after being in the England Test squad all summer.

Speight was somewhat ahead of his time in the 1990s as an unorthodox stroke-maker and was one of the first to start sweeping faster bowlers, and it was to him that Brook turned to correct a technical issue that emerged in his early years at Headingley.

The batsman will step in for the injured Jonny Bairstow against South Africa at the Kia Oval

‘He did very well in his first year after leaving school but he had some flaws that had crept in and a few years ago we completely rebooted his set-up, stance and his triggers,’ says Speight, 54. ‘The end product is four years later he is where he is.

‘Harry always stood very still at the crease but as time went on he started putting too much weight on his back leg. His hips and shoulders would open up and his bat would come down from gully. He’d play across straight balls or nick ones that weren’t really doing a lot.

‘He spoke to me and said, “This isn’t working”. He felt he needed to go back and across and set himself up to know where his off-stump was.

‘Even now he’ll send me videos asking what I think and I’ll say, “Your head has dipped a fraction there” and he’ll go off and work at it. If he hadn’t made that change he wouldn’t have gone on. He had to solve that flaw but he’s steadily got better and better.’

Brook was a promising if unathletic youngster

So much so that Brook, now 23, will fulfil an ambition that first took shape in the impressive setting of Sedbergh when he worked with Speight all those years ago.

‘We are incredibly proud of him,’ says Speight, who has maintained his hobby of painting from his playing days to his life at Sedbergh and has held numerous exhibitions of his work.

‘Harry’s a great lad. He respects the game and wants to be a Test cricketer. It’s always been his dream and I hope he gets the opportunity on Thursday. He should do.’

And his mentor will be in the crowd at the Oval tomorrow to see his old charge on the biggest day of his career. ‘I still speak to Harry most days,’ adds Speight. ‘I think he just likes having someone as a sounding board he’s known for years which is a treat for me and hopefully helpful for him.

‘As soon as Harry heard about Jonny’s injury he rang me and said, “I’ve got a ticket for you. I want you there”.

‘The headmaster has given me permission to miss school. I’ll be on the first train down and last one back.

‘I want to be there for his first day if he bats or not.’

POPE TOLD STOKES: I’M YOUR NO 3 

Ollie Pope is delighted he made the phone call to Ben Stokes at the start of this summer that has re-ignited his Test career.

Pope took the initiative to ring the new captain and put himself forward for the problematic No 3 position for England’s Test reboot. And he has been rewarded with a century and two scores of more than 50 in a run of five wins in their six Tests under new management.

Now he will play at his home ground of the Kia Oval — he called it the ‘home of cricket’ yesterday — in the final Test against South Africa.

Ollie Pope took the initiative to ring England captain Ben Stokes and put himself forward for the problematic No 3 position

He averages 88.5 in 30 innings with nine centuries there, and is confident that he has made the No 3 position his own.

‘I wasn’t sure how Ben took it at first,’ said Pope of his fateful phone call. ‘I just remember thinking there was one spot available and it was the first time I’d felt I could be successful at three — the way I was playing county cricket and the hard work I’d put in.

‘When Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) called me to tell me I was in the squad I was not only buzzing but I thought it was a chance I didn’t want to miss out on.’

England will be without Jonny Bairstow for this LV= Insurance series decider after his freak injury playing golf last week, but Pope has no doubts his replacement Harry Brook, who will make his Test debut, is ready for the ultimate step up in this series decider.

‘I’ve been on Under 19 tours with Harry and he’s a seriously good player,’ added Pope.

‘He’s been in ridiculous form in the Championship and he’s a hundred per cent got the game to take that into Test cricket.’