Classy Harry Brook shows why he must stay at No.5 for England

Harry Brook will know that he should have been out there shaking hands with the Australian players when the winning runs were scored, even if he had played a marvellously composed innings of 75 in this most pressurised and important of situations, both for his team and for himself.

The magnitude of the occasion needs little explanation, with England’s victory keeping the series alive, but for Brook it was a significant challenge that needed to be overcome, given the questions raised about him by Australia’s bouncer barrages in this series.

Being dropped down the order to his favoured position of No.5, with Moeen Ali going up to No.3 and playing a rather curious innings that lacked the positivity expected, was a bonus in one respect, but in another it increased the pressure, because opposition fielders – particularly Australians – are never shy of commenting upon the fact that a player has been withdrawn from the firing line a little and moved down the order.

Brook had made a bad mistake in the first innings at Lord’s, stepping away to try to slap Mitchell Starc over cover, in response to some unremitting short balls. It was not why England lost, and no one man should ever be accused of that, but it was emblematic of some poor decision-making by the batsmen.

So, throwing him up to No 3 for this match seemed harsh, foolish even, and Brook never looked comfortable in the first innings. He looked a little tentative, and lasted only 11 balls before edging to slip for three.

That first evening of the match, he met up with his coach from Sedbergh School, Martin Speight, and, as they do most days, they chatted about his batting. According to Speight, the message was simple: Brook needed to stay calm and react more, rather than premeditating.

That was what Brook did here. He arrived at the crease at a tricky time. The ball had been changed and was hooping around. Zak Crawley had just nicked off, having played very well, but England were 93 for three, still 158 short of their target.

Early on, Brook played a drive on the up off Scott Boland. The ball went in the air back past the bowler, but Brook’s aggressive mindset, and his confidence in that attitude, was shown by his holding of the pose after he hit the stroke.

It was his first boundary and a pivotal moment, because Australia then chased their tail, posting a man catching where that shot had gone, leaving cover open, whither Brook duly lashed two more boundaries. He was up and running, as evidenced by his greeting of Starc’s return to the attack with another four through cover. The roars from his home crowd told the story.

Another Yorkshireman, Joe Root, played one cover drive that could hang comfortably in the Louvre, but in general he looked a little uncomfortable. However he was nowhere near as skittish as a third Yorkshireman, Jonny Bairstow. His movements, with hands and feet, just look out of sync, so it was down to Brook to be the hometown hero.

A couple more boundaries flew off the outside edge, but because Brook was going hard at the ball, they whistled to the boundary safely. When the off spinner, Todd Murphy, was given the dreaded over before lunch, Brook pounced on a short one to cut away to the fence.

On 40 not out, and with 98 more needed to win at the break. Brook was in control, and not even the loss of Ben Stokes could deter him. After Bairstow’s dismissal, he found a willing accomplice in Chris Woakes.

Both of them were inevitably given a taste of the short stuff, but both found their own ways to deal with it. Brook generally pulled better than he has done so far in this series, raising his hands high and hitting the ball down, once convincingly down to the fine leg boundary off Pat Cummins.

But with only 21 required it was a short ball that did for him, a ball so wide from Starc that Brook should have cut it. In the event, his attempted pull was always going to go skywards. It allowed for some further heroics from Woakes, and Mark Wood too, but Brook was furious. Leaving the job to others can always be risky. “I’m not one to blow up in the changing room but I had a little blow up today,” he said on Sky Sports. “I like getting us over the line and it was annoying that I didn’t today.”

Brook is only 24. It was only his tenth Test match. In years to come, he will doubtless be there when Ashes Tests are won. Experience teaches us well in that respect.

For now, though, England would be well advised to ensure Brook stays at No.5. That is his spot, even if Bairstow excelled there last summer. Sport moves quickly and it waits for no man or woman. Brook is the man now.

It was interesting to hear the views of the man from the Mirror before the day’s play on Sky, confirming that he would have omitted Brook rather than Ben Foakes at the start of the summer in order to fit Bairstow back in, reasoning that Brook had not been in the Bazball team for last year until the very last Test. Conversely, and due apologies to my colleague for this, Mike Atherton said at the start of last summer that he would not pick Bairstow because Brook had to play.

Selection is only opinion, despite the increasing influence of the data specialists, but Brook at five appears the soundest judgment right now.

-The Times

Originally published as Classy Harry Brook shows why he must stay at No.5 for England