Harry Brook can end up as one of England's best batsmen ever
Players like him do not come along too often and he could end up in the same batsman bracket as Wally Hammond and Denis Compton, who are regarded by everybody who saw them as among England's greatest.
Harry has that special quality of somehow making batting look easy. Let me tell you, it is not. He is tall and that gives him long levers so when he hits the ball he has a lot of power and takes the game away from bowlers without slogging.
In this era, compared to everyone else around, he is above them all. I defy anybody to tell me another No 5 in world cricket, or middle-order batsman, who has his talent, his ability to take the game by the scruff of the neck and have bowlers running in, not knowing what to bowl. They run up in hope not knowing what line or length to hit because he is smacking them everywhere. He is playing a different shot to every ball and when bowlers minds are scrambled and can't think straight, you have them by the balls.
Brook has such a wide range of strokes that when he gets going, he dominates bowlers, scoring in all areas. They are not sure where to bowl at him and that is a wonderful situation to be in as a batsman.
Three consecutive shots of Harry Brook brilliance 😍🏴 pic.twitter.com/We6LFZQ5gd
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 13, 2025
Harry is a dream middle-order player, especially when he has Joe Root at the other end, because they are totally opposite. Root is technically correct and undemonstrative. He just sets about his work by caressing the ball into the gaps. Joe rotates the strike comfortably which means that if you are at the other end, you are always getting some balls to face.
Brook has such power and a force of personality in his batting which enables him to take bowlers apart. Root uses the rapier, Brook the sword to carve teams open.
He does it so bloody quickly that in no time at all, the game is rushing away from the bowlers. That is what happened at the Oval. India kept looking up at the scoreboard and it was going mad. That is the danger with him.
As a bowler, you have to try and get him out, but if that fails he is then very difficult to keep quiet. The ball races around and in no time at all he has spread the field. Bowlers want slips and people catching, but are terrified by the ball disappearing to all parts. England are lucky to have an ideal middle order of two different types of players. That is exactly what you want as a team.
Captains and bowlers are always having to do something different and think on their feet. I found it mesmerising watching them bat. I enjoyed it. It taxed the bowlers and the captains. Yes, occasionally, because he is living in the moment, he will play a shot that gets him out like the cross-batted swipe on Sunday. Sometimes he does something you think is a bit silly, but you have to accept that.
Akash Deep breaks the partnership at last!
What a knock from Harry Brook, 111 from 98 deliveries 👏 pic.twitter.com/wuqJUYDKWv
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 3, 2025
I have always believed that every team needs one genuine, unpredictable batsman who can do extraordinary things. Yes, they do daft shots occasionally but we have to accept that because what you get in return is such a huge bonus. When it is their day they are match-winners.
Harry has a special gift and has scored 10 hundreds in 30 innings. The best players are normally one hundred in four to five innings. He is one in three. You can talk all you want about bats being bigger, and the pitches better than ever. True. I get all that. But the fact is, you have to judge people in the era they play.
Technically, Brook stays back a lot like Joe Root giving him more time to see the ball, judge the length and let it come to him. He takes the ball at the top of the bounce and then, if it is his day, he destroys teams.
I don't think he will be able to tonk Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood quite so easily. He will have a chance against Mitchell Starc because he bowls magic deliveries but also gives you a lot of four balls.
I just hope Harry is going to be intelligent enough not to change his game, but just assess the situation and be a bit more careful. That is all he has to do. There will be times when Australia are bowling well and trying to butcher them will not be the smartest thing to do.
He has a good defence on both the front and back foot so it is not as though he cannot stay in. He can let the moment pass when the bowlers are on top.
It's like playing chess. There are times when you have to sit in and wait for your moment, then explode. If he comes running down the pitch at people like Hazlewood and Cummins then he will be asking for trouble but if he assesses the situation, he can be successful in Australia.
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