Harry Brook revels in leading ‘awesome' England after West Indies clean sweep

Independent

2 days ago

Harry Brook believes England's resurgent white-ball side have the talent to become 'the most dominant team in the world'.
Brook has enjoyed a perfect start as limited-overs captain, winning all six games against the West Indies to overhaul the fortunes of a group that lost their last eight matches in the hangdog final days of Jos Buttler's tenure.
Buoyed by matching 3-0 scorelines in the ODI and T20 formats, sealing the latter with a comfortable 37-run win in Southampton, Brook talked up England's chances of becoming a force to be reckoned with.
With a T20 World Cup coming early next year, it is a challenge they will soon get the chance to meet.
'It's been a pretty good start hasn't it? I think almost every player in this team is a world-beater,' he said after his side scored 248 for three – the joint highest T20 international total on English soil.
'We want to get to a stage now where we're winning series in the first two or three games and we're nailing them in the others. We want to clean sweep people. We want to be the most dominant team in the world.
'I've said plenty of times the depth that we have in batting is just awesome. The top three, four, five can go hard and get us up to totals like we saw here. Then with the skills that the bowlers possess as well, it's worked beautifully.
'I feel like we're just such a team. I've never really felt that apart from in the Test side.'
Brook prioritised international cricket and opted out of a lucrative Indian Premier League contract earlier this year, incurring a potential three-year ban having originally put his name into the auction.
It is a lead he now wants others to follow.
He said: 'Absolutely, that's what we want to try and do. We want people to almost turn around and say, 'I want to play for England and I'm happy to sit out of the odd franchise competition to do it'.
'I personally think playing for England is the pinnacle of cricket and to play for your country is the best thing you can do.'
That is a luxury the West Indies can only dream of, following the premature retirement of Nicholas Pooran at just 29 years old. Financially, they lack the muscle to compete with the riches on offer in some leagues, but that is not an issue England face so acutely.
Competition is only likely to increase if the case of Phil Salt and Jamie Smith is anything to go by. Salt has missed the West Indies series following the birth of his first child, but did make a whistle stop return to India for the IPL final, which he won with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
His place went to Smith, who scored 60 off just 26 balls at the Utilita Bowl to threaten the pecking order.
'The talent that we've got in English cricket in white ball cricket is just phenomenal. For Salty to miss out on a series and Smudge to do what he's done this series is just mega,' Brook added.
'The batting depth we have is just awesome.'