Harry Brook praised coach Brendon McCullum for his part in England’s first one-day international series triumph against India since 2018 after an exciting 27-run victory at Lord’s on Sunday.
Following England’s recent 1-2 home series loss to New Zealand, which resulted in the retirement of red-ball captain Ben Stokes, McCullum was fired as Test coach.
However, the former captain of New Zealand continued to be in charge of England’s white-ball sides. He oversaw a 4-0 T20 series victory against world champions India, which was followed on Sunday by a victory that guaranteed a 2-1 victory in a three-match ODI series.
With fellow opener Jacob Bethell scoring 91, Ben Duckett’s commanding 141 was the cornerstone of England’s 387-3, setting a new record for the highest total in an ODI at Lord’s.
Joe Root’s 74 not out was his third fifty of the series, with Jos Buttler’s dashing unbeaten 41 off just 13 balls making a crucial difference to the outcome.
Rohit Sharma, amid rumors this could be his last match before retiring from international duty kept India in the game with a superb 138 — the first ODI century by an Indian batsman at Lord’s — while Virat Kohli weighed in with 74.
But England skipper Brook’s choice to turn to Bethell’s part-time spin proved smart with the Barbados-born youngster bowling Rohit on a day of tributes to his mentor Garry Sobers, the legendary West Indies’ all-rounder who died on Friday.
“That was a tough little period, they (India) were obviously getting ahead of the game and playing really well,” AFP quoted Brook, who praised the much-criticised McCullum’s tactical input.
“I decided to go off for an over and have a quick chat with Baz to gather his thoughts. Again, it comes back to the communication which has been outstanding throughout the T20s, throughout the ODIs.
“They have a slightly different view from up there, with the TVs and analytic work and going up there to have a quick chat to see what we could do.
He said, ‘have a go with Beth, a slightly different spinner to what we’ve got with him driving it into the pitch,’ and thankfully it came off.”
Although he acknowledged on Sunday that it would be “tough” to lead in all three international forms ahead of a 2027 Ashes series at home followed by an ODI World Cup in South Africa, Brook has previously stated that he would not hesitate to succeed Stokes as Test captain.
He added: “That’s not my decision. Whoever is the new coach will have that decision to make. It would be tough to do it, but I’m not saying it is impossible. If I get asked, we’ll see where it takes us.”
India skipper Shubman Gill rued Buttler’s scorching late assault but skirted queries regarding Rohit’s international future by saying: “He has not told us anything. I think it is all out in the media, but there has not been any discussions internally.”
