Harry Brook, the white-ball captain of England, stated that it would be a “privilege” for him to lead the nation in Test cricket if he were given the opportunity after Ben Stokes retired.
Following Stokes’ resignation, England is searching for a new Test captain. The day after Stokes openly supported the 27-year-old to succeed him, Brook made his comments.
“It would be a great honour, a privilege to captain England in the highest format of our game,” PTI quoted Brook as saying on the eve of the first T20I against India.
“The pinnacle, I think it is. Playing Test cricket is the greatest thing that I’ve ever done in my life and it’s a dream, and something I’ve always wanted to do since I could speak. It’s not up to me, that decision, but if I got offered it, then I’d be happy to take it,” he added.
But after Stokes was dropped from the playing XI due to a nightclub incident, England required a stand-in captain for the second Test against New Zealand, and Brook was overlooked. Instead, Joe Root, a former captain, was chosen by the selectors to guide the team.
Brook reaffirmed that England cricket is still his top preference, citing his choice to pass up lucrative franchise offers.
“I’ve committed completely to England cricket. I’ve said I don’t want to play any franchise cricket barring the Hundred. Whatever I do, on and off the field, is to try and perform as well as I possibly can for England. I like trying to be fearless and putting pressure back on the opposition.”
“Hence the reason I don’t play in the IPL and PSL and all the other franchise competitions,” said Brook, who was handed a two-year ban from IPL after withdrawing from his contract with Delhi Capitals last year.
He claimed to like the aggressive style of cricket that head coach Brendon McCullum promotes.
“I love working with Baz, he’s a great bloke and an unbelievable coach, some of the things he’s taught me throughout my career, giving us the opportunity to go out there and play in the style him and Stokesy wanted us to play, that suited me to a tee to start with. Then, it’s just trying to evolve as much as you can as a player, take some of those learnings from the past, act on them in games.”
India and England last faced off in the shortest format in the T20 World Cup semifinal, where they were defeated by 7 runs.
“I said in the press conference after the semifinal, we were never out of games. It felt like that the whole way through the World Cup,” Brook said.
“We found ourselves in some tricky situations against some lesser sides, and then we ended up nearly chasing 250 against the world champions in the semi-final.”
“So (we need) a bit more of that and evolving as a team well, tactics behind the scenes that I don’t need to go into, but execution of those tactics and trying to upskill as much as we can,” he added.
The five-match Twenty20 International series between India and England begins on Wednesday.
