Atherton names England World Cup "certainty" after coach divulges two "lock-ins"

29 January 2023 , 15:05

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Former England captain Michael Atherton (Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Former England captain Michael Atherton believes Harry Brook is a "certainty" for England's 50-over World Cup defence later this year after the 23-year-old struck an impressive 80 in just his second ODI against South Africa.

Brook excelled in Test and T20I cricket last year, smashing three hundreds in four Tests and also helping England win the T20 World Cup. However, he had to wait until 2023 to make his ODI debut and unfortunately fell for a three-ball duck in his first innings.

The Yorkshireman quickly showed his class in his second ODI, though, scoring an important 75-ball 80 after England lost both Jason Roy and Dawid Malan cheaply. England coach Matthew Mott has already stated Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root are "lock-ins" for the World Cup and Atherton believes Brook will also have a key role to play at the tournament.

"I think the measure of Brook's talent in the short amount of time that we've seen him in international cricket is that this is his second ODI only, and he feels like a certainty for that World Cup squad to me already," Atherton told Sky Sports.

"It's incredibly competitive for top-order white ball batting for England, but I think if you see this format as a bridge between Tests and T20... he has already shown outstanding form in Tests and we know how damaging and destructive he can be and T20.

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"He's got the complete game, the defensive technique and then all the options on the attack as well so I'd be very surprised if he's not in India in nine months time."

Harry Brook scored an impressive 80 in his second ODI (MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images)

Fellow ex-England captain Nasser Hussain added: "Brook's innings today, it was just pure class. The positions he was getting in, picking up length off the spinner... this lad is just high class.

"I think Australia, if and when he plays in the Ashes, will try and target him with the short stuff. South Africa often felt that was the way to go.

"And this is what is very impressive, how he picks up spin and the length of spinners. We saw that in [the Test tour of] Pakistan. He is a high class player in all formats."

Matthew Cooper