Can Harry Brook Resuscitate England's White-Ball Team?

Forbes

10-04-2025

England's newly appointed white-ball captain, Harry Brook, speaking with the media at Headingley ... More Stadium, Leeds. Picture date: Wednesday April 9, 2025. (Photo by Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)
After weeks of speculation that Ben Stokes's battered body might have to lead England's white-ball squad as well as carry his own weight of expectation, common sense finally made it into the equation on Wednesday when new skipper Harry Brook was unveiled in front of the gathered media.
The fresh-faced Yorkshireman has a busy year ahead with series against the West Indies in June and South Africa and Ireland in September. There are even three ODIs and three T20s in New Zealand just before the Ashes commences on 21 November at Perth. In the middle of this cricket carnival, another titanic five-match Test campaign against India starts on 20 June.
When Brook came into the Test team in 2022, Stokes called him 'dumb' but the current red-ball skipper meant it playfully. Brook has admitted that he isn't that 'school-smart' in respect of quizzes. However, his cricketing intelligence doesn't need a great deal of homework. He waits for the ball like a man who can see into the future. What may be more puzzling is how to stop the white-ball team from crashing and burning.
England has won just one of their last 11 combined T20 and ODI matches this year and have lost the edge and sense of direction that made them a fearsome unit. Collapses have become commonplace. Talent is still there but no team fears England anymore. Hard work is done and then undone as if there's no end game. Cameos don't win matches. The glory of the 2019 World Cup final feels like a distant memory back when the Three Lions roared with purpose.
"Harry is not only an outstanding cricketer, but also has an excellent cricketing brain and a clear vision for both teams that will help drive us towards winning more series, World Cups and major global tournaments,' said England managing director Rob Key.
Key has admitted mistakes in the past during the truly dismal World Cup defense in 2023 and has even told players to stop talking 'rubbish' during post-match press conferences. It remains to be seen if Brook can move past the rather self-congratulatory Bazball bravado and cut to the quick.
His delivery of the message was suitably succinct when he said the team 'were not good enough'. The talk was less corporate than Key's although still smelling of the McCullum talcum powder in parts.
'I'm going to be myself, as much as I possibly can be. Be relaxed, be calm, try to have a lot of fun and enjoy it. If you're playing cricket for England, we're all living that dream,' said the new captain. Brook wants bowlers to be able to 'get out every batter in the world' and for batsmen to 'put the best bowlers under pressure from their best ball to their worst ball.' Sounds simple enough.
The 26-year-old has already had a trial run at the captaincy. He deputised for Jos Buttler during September's five-match series against Australia in the last knockings of the English summer. The right-handed batter showed his immaturity when asked about how his side had let slip a commanding position of 213 for 2 to end 315 all out. "We are out there to score runs. If you get caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field then who cares?' was a quote straight from the Bazball playbook of press conferences.
By the third match, Brook found his rhythm to record a maiden ODI century with impressive alacrity given that he is still learning on the job in both forms of white-ball cricket. Brook failed to find his big moment in the 2023 World Cup, two T20 World Cups or the recent Champions Trophy where the Three Lions showed inadequacies in all parts of their game. The white-ball set-up has been in a state of uneasy transition since Eoin Morgan left the scene in 2022. The new leader is open to retain key figures like Stokes and Joe Root as long as they play the majority of the games.
Brook's Test average is an impressive 58. When he smashed four centuries in the first six matches he was still on a minimum wage of just under $75,000 in the England dressing-room. Now, the star batsman is halfway through a three-year central contract, recently turning down a $800,000 contract with the Delhi Capitals to concentrate on his country. Pulling out of two consecutive IPLs with Delhi could mean a ban for a couple of years from the competition.
CHESTER-LE-STREET, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 24: England batsman Harry Brook raises his bat towards the ... More sky after reaching his century during the 3rd Metro Bank ODI between England and Australia at Seat Unique Riverside on September 24, 2024 in Chester-le-Street, England. (Photo by)
"I enjoy playing cricket for England more than anything else, so to lose a little bit of money here and there - I'd take that any day to play (for England)," mused the laid-back Brook.
It's refreshing to hear that no amount of franchise cash can turn the head of the boy who desperately wanted to play for England. The importance of family to Brook has always been higher than anything else. He missed the 2024 tour of India and the IPL due to the death of his grandmother who was a huge influence at home and in his cricketing growth.
If Brook can bring that key part of loyalty to the team and mix it up with the iron fist of a Morgan when necessary, then it's a step to regaining England's dignity in white-ball cricket. 'The measure of intelligence is the ability to change", said Albert Einstein. Brook doesn't have to be that clever, but can show that he's sharp enough to try.