Me and Marcus Trescothick are pretty similar in our approach to Brendon McCullum- Harry Brook (Photo Source: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Harry Brook feels that England will adopt the same principles in all three formats of the game after Brendon McCullum replaced Matthew Mott as the head coach in white-ball cricket, earlier this month. The former New Zealand captain has done a fantastic job with the England Test team after being appointed as the head coach in May 2022, allowing his players to play an aggressive brand of cricket which has been fondly termed, ‘Bazball’.
Notably, McCullum will take charge of England in the white-ball formats from January 2025. He will work in tandem with white-ball captain Jos Buttler. However, in the upcoming five-match ODI series between England and Australia, Harry Brook will be at the helm as Buttler is recovering from a calf injury.
Meanwhile, Marcus Trescothick has been named as the interim head coach for the series. The former England opener is one of McCullum’s assistants in the red-ball setup. Brook, who will be leading England for the first time, asserted that he and Trescothick are very similar to McCullum in terms of their approach.
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“I think it’s all going to merge into one at some point. It’s all going to be played fairly similar. We’re going to have the same principles on however we want to go about playing the game, trying to put that forward to the team already before Baz takes over,” Brook told reporters on the eve of the first ODI which will be played on Thursday, September 19.
“I haven’t spoken to him much, he’s kind of left it up to me and Tres, but me and Tres are both on the same page and a pretty similar page to Baz. We want to go out there, be entertaining, entertain the crowd, take the game on, try to take wickets and put the pressure on their bowlers. In the field, try to influence the game as much as you can,” the right-handed batter added.
Professional sport is not easy and they call it Test cricket for a reason: Harry Brook
Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook criticized Harry Brook for his loose shot selection during the third Test between England and Sri Lanka earlier this month. However, the 25-year-old said that the red-ball format tests a cricketer and he will look to bounce back stronger in the coming matches.
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“I want to get a hundred every innings. But it’s not going to happen, is it? Professional sport is not easy and they call it Test cricket for a reason. It is a bloody tough test. I’m just going to go out there, watch the ball as closely as I can and play on instinct,” Brook said in his response to the criticism.