Fearless Harry Brook has no intention of respecting reputations in the Ashes, only the good balls.
Brook has been waiting all his life to play in the Ashes and now he is here he can’t wait to get stuck in and challenge himself against the best in the business.
But the 24-year-old is so full of confidence and belief after scoring four hundreds in his first seven Tests, that he is determined to attack the Aussie bowlers in the same way he has every other team he has faced so far.
“It’s a dream come true to be involved in my first Ashes,” he said. “My dad always says as soon as I could talk I said that I wanted to play for England and here we are.
“Growing up I was watching some of these players who are still playing. Now I’m going to be playing against the best in the world and the best Australians. I’m looking forward to it.
“But I’m just looking to play the ball and I’m not really bothered who’s bowling at me. It’s the same old ball coming down.
“Throughout my career I’ve always been a positive player and always looked to put pressure back on the bowler, and tried to be as fearless as possible.
“Obviously, they’re good but it’s just another cricket ball coming at me. I’m going to go out there and try to play the same way I have been playing the last 12 months.”
The way he has been playing has been frankly astonishing, striking at almost a run a ball as he has gathered over 800 runs in those seven matches.
No player has scored as many runs in the history of Test cricket at a higher strike rate than Brook’s 99.03, and even the greatest dasher of them all, Virender Sehwag, could only go at 82.23.
He has been a match-winning attacking revelation from the off, and now he has got Aussie spin king Nathan Lyon in his sights.
Lyon has been a constant thorn in England’s side for a decade, taking 101 wickets across his 28 matches, but Brook is absolutely clear. If he wants wickets this summer, he is going to have to pay a hefty price for them.
“I feel like I've played exactly the way that Baz and Stokes want us to play,” added Brook. “I’ve scored my runs fairly quickly and there were a couple of wins this winter where if we hadn't scored the runs as quickly then we might not have got the result.
“I’ve said plenty of times that this environment’s the best I’ve been in and I’m going to go out there and be fearless.
“Against Lyon if I get a good bowl I'm going to try and survive against that good ball and if he bowls me a bad ball I'll try and hit it for four or six.
“If he bowls a good ball then I’m going to respect it. Other than that, I’m going to try and take him on. He could get a lot of wickets, but hopefully we’re going to hit him for a lot of runs.”
On the face of it you might think that young Brook is a bit full of himself and is talking a great game before a ball has been bowled, but the arrogance isn’t there. It is belief built on strong foundations and the support of Stokes and McCullum.
And the idea is to put on a show and inspire the next generation in the same way that he was by the 2005 side.
“I remember that Flintoff over to Ponting and KP smacking it everywhere,” he added. “Hopefully we can inspire a few people to want to play Test cricket.”
