Harry Brook’s first masterpiece of the winter, lost in defeat, seems an age ago. It was in his side’s first one-day international against New Zealand back in October, his 101-ball 135 somehow landing in the middle of nine single-figure England scores.
The nightclub bouncer’s punch followed, the Ashes tour went wrong and then came the reveal of the former. A lot has happened, but moments of genius in the middle always lurk close by when it comes to Brook. Here, in their final ODI of the winter, he brought it all together with an unbeaten 136 off 66 balls, taking England to a prized series victory in Sri Lanka, the decider won by 53 runs.
So Brook, after the worst episode of his career, has written a fresh chapter. His 136 not out was the fastest hundred by an England ODI captain on foreign soil, by miles: his strike rate was 206 per hundred balls, when the previous best was 146 by Liam Livingstone in Antigua in 2024. In the last four overs of England’s innings, Brook scored 64 while Root made four. He handled his seven bowlers well too, held three catches and pulled off a run-out. After labouring to 42 off 75 balls in the previous game, he had one of those days when everything suddenly goes right. His position as captain, so nearly thrown away on a foolish night out in Wellington, is secure for the moment, and so is Brendon McCullum’s as the white-ball coach.
We hope you’ll join us for the T20 series between these two sides, which starts on Friday at 1.30pm GMT. For now, as ever, thanks for your company.
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