‘They were shocking shots’: Brook admits culpability for England’s 0-2 Ashes deficit

3 months ago 6

Adelaide: England’s freewheeling vice captain Harry Brook has admitted to playing some “shocking shots” that have contributed to an 0-2 Ashes deficit, and also revealed the tourists barely discussed cricket during their four days in Noosa.

Brook’s admissions arrived a few hours before England named just one change to their team for the Adelaide Oval Test, replacing Gus Atkinson with Josh Tongue and ignoring the claims of specialist spinner Shoaib Bashir. Spin all-rounder Will Jacks keeps his place after contributing solidly at the Gabba.

Despite being anointed Ben Stokes’ deputy in the lead-up to this tour, Brook has not spoken previously on the trip, and said he now needed to step up to ease some of the load on the captain.

Harry Brook (right) touches base with England coach Brendon McCullum at training in Adelaide.

In a cricket sense, that will mean batting more sensibly than he did in the first two Tests. Brook’s dismissals by Scott Boland in the second innings in Perth then by Mitchell Starc in the first innings at the Gabba, both times driving wildly, were emblematic of the spendthrift batting approach that Australia have capitalised on.

“They were shocking shots,” Brook said in Adelaide. “I’d admit that every day of the week. Especially that one in Perth, that was nearly a bouncer and I tried to drive it. It was just bad batting.

“The one in Brisbane I tried to hit for six, so that’s what I mean when I say I need to try to rein it in a little bit.

“I can almost take that and hit it for one and get down the other end and whoever else is in with me at the other and can get on strike and keep trying to rotate. But I’ll be the first person to stand up and say they were bad shots. I don’t regret them, but if I was there again I’d try to play it slightly differently.

“Sometimes I’ve got to rein it in a little bit. Learn when to absorb pressure a little bit more and then realise when the opportunity arises to put pressure back on them. I feel like I haven’t done that as well as I usually do in this series so far. I haven’t identified the situations well enough.”

While there was evidence of plenty of reflection in how Brook spoke on Monday, he also stated frankly that Noosa had been a cricket-free zone.

“To be honest, we tried to stay away from cricket as much as possible. We just wanted to go there and have a good time, and we had a belting time,” he said. “It probably came at the right time when we’re 2-0 down.

“Most people won’t think that, but to get away from the game and refresh as much as possible after a tough start to the series, hopefully that can help us leading into this game.

Scott Boland celebrates the wicket of Harry Brook in Perth.

“We haven’t played our best cricket, [but] hopefully this week is the start of it. I’m just going to see and adapt as well as possible. The great thing about batting in the middle order is you get to watch for a little while. So I’ll be thinking about my game and the risk and options I have before I go out there.”

Asked about Nathan Lyon’s looming recall, Brook said that England would attack the Australian spin bowler, but needed to be judicious about how they did so.

“He’s an extremely highly skilled bowler, he’s persistent, he takes a lot of load off their fast bowlers,” Brook said. “So we’ll obviously try to be aggressive against him and try to put him under pressure.

“But that may not be trying to hit sixes and fours all the time. We might have to rotate strike as much as possible, but just stay in the moment as much as possible, read the situations, read the pitch and play it accordingly.

“They’ve been incredibly highly skilled and they’ve nailed their execution. You can’t take this bowling attack lightly, they very rarely miss. You’ve got to try and create your own bad ball. That might be me running down, might be me changing my guard or whatever.”

As for Stokes’ pointed words about Australia not being a place for “weak men”, Brook said that it was a matter of standing up at the times when the game could swing either way.

“It’s the pressure situations we haven’t been good at so far,” he said.

“When we’re head-to-head, they’ve managed to be the better side and sneak in front. Everyone realises that, and we’ve just got to stand up in certain situations.”

England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue.