Harry Brook celebrated a game-changing century against New Zealand, describing it as his best performance yet, after mastering a challenging Wellington pitch and rescuing England on the first day of the second Test. Both teams' bowlers had a productive day on a lively Basin Reserve surface, with England finishing on 280 before reducing the Black Caps to 86 for five in response. A total of 15 wickets fell across three sessions, averaging one every 5.4 overs, but Brook stood out with his batting prowess. He scored 123 runs off just 115 balls, hitting five fearless sixes and 11 fours.
Although four of Brook's eight Test centuries have been higher, including 171 in Christchurch last week and a career-best 317 in Multan two months ago, he feels this one was his finest. When he arrived at the crease, the scoreboard read 26 for three, quickly becoming 43 for four. He faced a pace attack that was exploiting the favorable conditions, but his array of powerful shots turned the game around. Only a run out, due to an ill-advised attempt at a single, could halt his progress.
"I think that might be my favorite hundred so far, I really enjoyed that one," he said at the end of the day. "Most of the balls came out of the middle of the bat, and it feels pretty special to be batting like that. We were three down when I came in, and the pitch was doing quite a bit. It was seaming and swinging, so I'm just glad I put my attacking mode on. I really took it to them and put them under a lot of pressure. The best mode of defense for me was attack, and thankfully it came off."
Brook, who recently climbed to second behind Joe Root in the world batting rankings, has now scored seven centuries away from home in just 10 appearances, averaging a remarkable 91.50 on the road. To put his extraordinary form into perspective, former England captains Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart both scored the same number of away centuries but took 48 and 59 matches, respectively. Brook, who also surpassed 1,000 runs in 2024, began his counter-attack by advancing down the pitch at Nathan Smith and launching him over extra cover and out of the ground. He admitted that this was a calculated risk, designed to disrupt the seamer's rhythm.
"I'm not sure you can run down [the pitch] on instinct. That's got to be premeditated," he explained. "They had to try and bowl at the stumps early on, and I felt like the time to run down was then; cash in when it's full. I just tried to take them off their length and stop them bowling on the stumps."
Brook received support from the resurgent Ollie Pope, whose 66 was the next-best score of the day, and later saw his good work reinforced by Brydon Carse. Carse could have been disheartened when he bowled Kane Williamson with a superb delivery only to be denied by the tightest of no-ball calls. Instead, he continued to charge in harder, taking the late wickets of Williamson and Daryl Mitchell, as well as taking a difficult catch off Rachin Ravindra.
"I think the ball after he got the no-ball wicket was 92-93mph, he was fairly angry," said Brook. "Every team needs a player like him, he bowls at 90mph, he's diving and taking that amazing catch, and we saw him come out with the bat and smack his first ball for four too. He's a very valuable asset to us and an unbelievably good bloke."
Source link: https://www.theguardian.com
