Ashes ace Harry Brook must go from reckless to remarkable to fulfil potential
When Harry Brook completes his 20th innings for England later in this match, he will qualify for a place on the all-time Test batting average list.
20 innings is the accepted minimum requirement. And if he scores two or more runs in his second knock at The Oval, Brook will slot in at second, with only Don Bradman above him, albeit a long, long way above him. After 19 Test innings - the latest being a typically belligerent 85 - Brook averages 65.22 and has struck 22 sixes. The Don, who averaged 99.94, hit six maximums in his 80 Test innings.
So how is it that a lot of England cricket fans will still have that nagging feeling Brook has not maximised his dreamy talent this summer? Because of cameos such as this one.
Yes, he top-scored for England but it was a cameo - a casual 91-ball mix of the sublime and the streaky. Reprieved on five when Alex Carey put down a straightforward chance behind the stumps, Brook put himself in a position to really make Australia pay.
Instead, he wafted at a wide one from Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith atoned for an earlier miss of his own. There are two caveats to the frustration felt around the ground and up and down the country.
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Without Brook’s contribution, England would have been out of this contest already and there was a chance he could have run out of partners fairly quickly. He was the seventh man out, following some fairly inauspicious dismissals.
Also, the 24-year-old Yorkshireman scores a lot of runs wafting at wide ones. And the pace of this innings was entirely in keeping with his overall Test strike rate, which is just above 90 runs per 100 balls. In many ways, it was trademark Brook.
But this was still a chance missed, a glaring opportunity to record his first Ashes century. On the eve of the game, Brook reflected on his contribution to this series and gave an interesting, if entirely predictable, insight into his psyche.
Don Bradman averaged 99.94 in Test cricket (Getty Images)What did you make of Harry Brook's innings at The Oval? Let us know in the comments below!
"A couple of times I feel like I have been reckless," he said. "And then (in) some innings I’ve been tentative and not trying to score. I’d rather be on the reckless side than the tentative side."
He was certainly true to his word on this occasion. But Brook can be adventurous and attacking without being reckless - one textbook straight drive off Starc was as elegant and as sweetly-timed as any stroke seen in the series. Not long after, he departed.
When the frustration with Brook not going onto a big, three-figure score in this particular innings subsides, the broader picture is of a rare talent that could illuminate the game for a decade to come and could set new benchmarks in English cricket. The stats tell their own story. In his 19 Test innings, he has seven fifties - four in this series - and four centuries.
He is already in England’s top 20 of Test six-hitters and is playing only his 12th match. His average of 44.50 in this Ashes is not too shabby, either. But the numbers give you a fraction of his brilliance. Watching him have so much time to play bowlers of the pace and venom of Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood is a sight to behold.
And having passed 150 in knocks against New Zealand and Pakistan, everyone knows Brook can go on to make big tons. England have a rare jewel in their batting ranks, that is for sure. But in his duels with the old enemy, he is still a rough diamond.
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