Harry Brook was England's top scorer in the first inning with an impressive 85 runs out of 89 innings. Photo: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth
Insomnia. Helpless.
These two words were spoken by one of England's 2005 Ashes victory heroes, Glamorgan fast bowler Simon Jones, who actually broke his body for good in the campaign and never represented his country. – or England – again.
However, they could generalize the state of mind of most England cricketers for centuries – if not those amateurs who trailed them on merry tours of New Zealand or the West Indies in the 1930s – before Ben Stokes and Brandon McCallum seized the reins, and held them less tightly than either of their predecessors.
To the full extent, Jones said in his autobiography, My Life, “Insomnia. Helpless. This is test cricket. That's what it is; that's what he does.”
Contrast this deeply unsettling state of mind with the state of mind of the current England batsmen, especially youngsters like Harry Brook and Ben Duckett (whereas Zach Crawley admitted to self-doubt after being criticized more harshly). If only two words could describe the new attitude, they would certainly be the opposite of the above.
Relaxation. Expanded features.
It's quite obvious that such a conclusion is impossible to draw, but it's entirely possible that no contemporary English batsman has brought a more relaxed mood to the testing arena than Brook – Duckett had the baggage of his first incarnation on a trip to Asia to overcome. Nerves are involved, of course, but always keep the nerves going.
Before the morning anthems, Brook laughed with Moin Ali as they stood next to each other at the end of the line for England. The couple shared a few more as they answered the terror of 73 for three with a partnership of 111 with just 108 balls.
Harry Brook (right) and Moin Ali kept England's hopes of winning the final Test thanks to the 111 partnership. Credit: ECB/Gareth Copley
Less than a year ago, Brook never played a Test match. His 85 innings here led him to a total of 1,174 runs at 65, an average of five more than any other England record (topping that of his Yorkshire compatriot Herbert Sutcliffe), and at a strike rate of 91 runs. by 100 balls, which is the fastest result for any professional batsman in any country.
This is the fruit of England being the first country to initiate a 20-over tournament in 2003. Brook grew up with short -format batting, and cultivated the ability to score almost any ball, as his successors will have to do.
So far, Brook is unique among English players in that he grew up in a 20+ environment; or at least at 24 he is younger than Crowley and Duckett. Compared to any of his predecessors, it would have to be Kevin Pietersen: when Brook extended the first of his two sixes with nothing more than a flick of the wrist, he echoed Pietersen – and Brook, being a bit shorter and more lithe. than Pietersen can get under a slightly shorter ball more easily.
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen produced the Spectacle for the ages in Ashes 2005. Credit & Copyright: Getty Images/Tom Shaw
Brook's challenge in the remainder of this series is to go one step further and in England's second inning to achieve something like Pietersen's 158 here in 2005. Brook scored 32, 46, 50 points in his first Ashes series. , 4, 3, 75, 61 and his last 85. Pietersen, in his Test series debut against Australia or anyone else, also hit his 50 to the climax – or was that even the close? – on that last day on the Oval, which raised millions and secured the Ashes for England: 57, 64 did not come out, 71, 20, 21, 0, 45, 23, 14 and 158.
Pietersen's expectations weighed more heavily in 2005 – England had been losing to the Ashes for 16 years – than Brook's in the second innings, when a straight streak is the most England can save. However, England fans will still be delighted if Brook can start his first Test century in England and complete a reasonable summer.
'We've seen how good and bad in modern England'
🎥 @NHoultCricket and @willis_macp believe losing wickets in clusters will cost England. #TelegraphCricket | #Ashes | #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/ew1Z9xRrRc
— Telegraph Cricket (@telecricket) July 27, 2023
For this home 100 to happen, Brook may have to add another trick to his fearless repertoire: not feel dizzy when he plays in his great front-wheel drive. He is known to start quietly – and his forward defense, the backbone of his game, is boycott in its tightness – before expanding to all 20 shots in his repertoire. But can Brook widen, drop a pitch or two—perhaps when the wickets fall at the other end, or when the bowlers are on top for some other reason—and regroup and then start again?
Despite for having scored four Test centuries, only twice innings at Brook lasted over three hours for England – the longest four and a half hours – but batting all day is a line he has to cross if he wants to. protect your kingdom.
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