‘The day Brook showed he is an England leader’

Leaders in English cricket have come in many varieties.

There was Michael Vaughan the man-manager and Sir Andrew Strauss the strategist, who carefully planned England’s route to the top.

Sir Alastair Cook and Heather Knight led through pure determination. Ben Stokes is as inspiring as they come.

It is unlikely Harry Brook will ever have the poise of Strauss or the aura of Stokes.

That does not matter.

You know the story of Brook’s winter by now.

An altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington, a wasteful Ashes performance and a foolish attempt to hide the truth, for which he later had to come clean.

Few England captains have toured with such oversized baggage.

Thousands of England fans travelled to Australia for the Ashes. Thousands more set alarms night after night, day after day back home.

Brook owed them a performance and boy did he repay them here. It was the most mature of knocks after the most immature of winters.

It is curious that Brook, a man with a T20 World Cup winner’s medal from 2022 and a Test triple century, could perhaps have been accused of not having delivered a match-winning knock on the very biggest stage.

His highest score against Australia is 85 in 10 Tests.

Both of his hundreds against India last year were in Tests England lost – the second in the fifth Test at The Oval when his careless dismissal opened the door for India’s fightback to draw the series 2-2.

Brook’s highest score at the last 50-over World Cup was 66 and the previous T20 edition 53. Those doubts are silenced now.

Many have questioned Brook’s brainpower during his England career and at times this winter he has made it hard not to wonder.

There were the drives in Perth and Brisbane and the reverse sweep in Adelaide before even considering the issues off the field.

His ‘beer smash’ celebration when making a hundred against Sri Lanka last month showed another flash of childishness.

But those close to Brook and the England dressing room have always spoken of his sharp cricket brain.

This innings was the perfect example.

In 2022 he used a four-month break after the death of his grandmother to shed pounds not because he needed to fill his time or appear on the next series of Love Island.

He spoke then about how it would help him run twos in the 2024 T20 World Cup, thus getting himself back on strike to hit boundaries in the latter overs.

In Pallekele, Brook’s 100 from 51 balls was destructive, brutal at times, but he also ran nine twos.

It meant he could both attack – England took 11 from the second over and 17 from both the sixth and the 11th as Brook pushed on – but also go down the gears after wickets fell.

When Tom Banton was caught behind off Usman Tariq, Brook calmly took singles off his next five balls.

It was a perfectly paced innings, showing his wish for batters not to be “too careful” does not simply mean whack boundaries from every ball.

“I know we were losing wickets, but my job was still to try to go out there and put them under pressure throughout,” Brook said.

There is, of course, one other man Brook owed a performance to.

His coach Brendon McCullum was pushed to the brink by the Ashes defeat. Some will say he has already gone beyond the point from which he can return.

But in securing a semi-final spot, Brook has nudged England closer to a result that will keep the New Zealander in a job should he want it.

Brook could yet be the Mark Robins to McCullum’s Sir Alex Ferguson – granted the New Zealander has a long way to go.

Brook has always been one of Bazball’s most devoted believers.

McCullum is the only Test coach Brook has had, the only permanent coach he has worked under as white-ball captain. He often speaks straight from the McCullum philosophical handbook.

It was no surprise, therefore, that he credited his coach with the plan to promote Brook from number five to bat at three for the first time in his international career.

It was McCullum who put the idea to his captain early on Tuesday morning, less than 12 hours before the start of the game.

Some England players, like Jacob Bethell, who was nudged down to number four by Brook’s promotion, were told earlier in the day, but the rest were not fully made aware of the plan until McCullum spoke in the pre-match huddle.

“Baz was the mastermind there,” Brook said.

“He had the discussion with me this morning about going up the order and trying to maximise the powerplay.”

McCullum’s move means England now have a free hit in their final Super 8 match against New Zealand on Friday. After that they will travel to India for a semi-final.

Somehow, after stuttering and struggling to this point, they are the closest side to winning the title. Australia have gone already and defending champions India could follow before the week is out.

If the co-hosts remain, one of South Africa or West Indies will surely be knocked out.

Brook is two wins from becoming the fourth England men’s captain – after Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler – to lift a World Cup.

He is leading his way, which will bring moments that will leave you scratching your head. Now is the time for Brook to be backed, however.