Harry Brook off to flying start as England dominate West Indies in Birmingham
Birmingham: Newly appointed England white-ball captain Harry Brook has urged his team to move on from the past and concentrate on putting in strong performances, much like the commanding display they delivered against the West Indies in Birmingham on Thursday, as per the official website of ICC.
England got their home summer off to an excellent start at Edgbaston as they cruised to an impressive 238-run triumph over the Caribbean side in what was Brook's first game in charge as white-ball skipper.
While tougher tests will await England before the next ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe in 2027, the showing against the West Indies was much improved from what the side has shown in recent times.
England failed to make it out of the group stages of the most recent 50-over World Cup in India and went winless at the ICC Champions Trophy at the start of this year, while the team haven't even won a bilateral ODI series since they snuck past Ireland 1-0 in September 2023.
Brook has instilled new life into England's white-ball outfit since he took the captaincy reins from long-time skipper Jos Buttler and thinks the side has plenty to look forward to.
"It's a new era," Brook said after the victory over the West Indies, as quoted from the official website of the ICC.
"Like I've said so many times, we're trying to forget about the past, only focus on what's ahead of us, and take one game at a time. We've done pretty well today, so we can take that confidence going forward," he added.
"(It's a) very good start. To get 400 after being put in and bowl them out for 162 was a pretty exceptional start from the boys. Hopefully, we can top that," he said.
While none of England's batters managed to score a hundred against the West Indies, they had four players who contributed a half-century, with Jacob Bethell's 82 the highlight in a Player of the Match performance.
Brook hailed the efforts of England's top-order, with Ben Duckett (60), Joe Root (57) and new opener Jamie Smith (37) all looking solid against the West Indies' pace attack.
"The boys up top started beautifully and set the template for how we wanted to play and how we want to play for the rest of the series," Brook said.
"The tempo we batted with throughout the innings was pretty much spot on. We have a lot of depth in our batting, which gave the opportunity to Beth (Bethell) and (Will) Jacks to go out there and do what they did," he noted.
"I think that's the way everyone should play in ODI cricket - you've got a lot longer than you think. I got out with 20 overs to go and I felt like I was sat watching for about three hours. You can give yourself 10, 15 or 20 balls to get in and then you can soon catch up," he said.
"I think he (Bethell) was on about 40 from 40 balls (38 off 39) and he ended up striking at 140 or 150. That's the type of game it is, and you can catch up very quickly," he added.
The West Indies showed glimpses of their talents at times, with Roston Chase claiming a pair of superb catches during England's innings - but skipper Shai Hope was left to rue some sloppy bowling at the death, which allowed the hosts to post 400 and leave the visitors with an extremely difficult run chase.
"We didn't make the early inroads we were after. If you don't you will always find yourself playing catch up," Hope said.
"We pulled the game back quite nicely. We let it slip at the end. We have some work and assessing to do," he added.
The second match of the series is in Cardiff on Sunday, with the final contest scheduled for The Oval in London on Tuesday.
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