22-07-2025
Harry Brook on how Brendon McCullum encouraged England at Lord's: No more nice guys
Harry Brook revealed that Brendon McCullum felt England were being "too nice" during the Lord's Test against India. The comment stemmed from incidents that began late on Day 3, when Indian captain Shubman Gill sledged Zak Crawley over what he perceived as time-wasting tactics by Crawley and Ben Duckett, with the match hanging in the escalated further on Day 4 when Mohammed Siraj celebrated aggressively after dismissing Duckett. As a result, Siraj was fined 15 per cent of his match fee and received one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of came at the perfect time'It was on the evening of Day 4 that McCullum reportedly told the team they were being "too nice." Brook later remarked that, given what had transpired on Day 3, England players couldn't afford to continue in that manner.
"He actually said a few days before that we are too nice sometimes. I brought it up the night before the last day: 'Baz said the other day we're too nice, I think tomorrow is a perfect opportunity to really get stuck into them',' Brook told BBC Sport."It came at the perfect time. The opportunity that arose for us to not be the nice guys was because of what they did the night before. We watched two of our guys out there on their own, going back at the Indians after they were going at them. We just thought 'we're not standing for that'."We had a conversation and said 'it's time to not be those nice guys that we have been before',' Brook fight back at Lord'sWith scores level at the end of the first innings, India bowled England out for 192 in the second, putting themselves in a strong position to take a 2-1 lead in the series. However, England mounted a spirited fightback to clinch a dramatic Brook had a quiet outing in the first innings but contributed a crucial 23 off 19 balls in the second. Despite the modest score, his quickfire cameo proved valuable. Brook has been in fine form throughout the series, amassing 314 runs from three matches at an average of 52.33.- EndsMust Watch
