Cook makes huge Brook prediction as England star scores his "best hundred"

24 February 2023 , 07:22

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Harry Brook has received some lavish praise from England legend Sir Alastair Cook (Image: Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Sir Alastair Cook believes Harry Brook will go on to become "one of the all-time great players", having made such an outstanding start to his England career.

Already a T20 World Cup winner, Brook has enjoyed his best form in Test cricket where he now averages more than 100 after smashing an unbeaten 184 against New Zealand in the second Test in Wellington.

He has now struck four hundreds in his first six Test matches, matching the legendary Sir Don Bradman, with Cook believing Brook's century against New Zealand to be his best yet. And the former England captain believes the 24-year-old will go on to "dominate" the sport across all three formats for many years to come.

"I wouldn't know exactly what to do as a captain against a man in Brook's form, because he's got every option covered," Cook said on BT Sport. "They quite rightly tried to bowl top of off to him, he had some luck at the beginning, a couple of inside-edges past the stumps.

"But some of these shots you can only dream of and the confidence to play them and the skill to be able to consistently hit cleanly in the right areas - it's been an absolute pleasure to sit here and watch a Harry Brook masterclass.

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"184 not out on day one of a Test match after being 21-3, striking at over 100, it's extraordinary when you start breaking it down like that. I'll be astonished if he doesn't play over 100 Test matches.

Cook believes Brook will be "one of the all-time great players" (PA)

"I'm expecting him to be able to dominate Test cricket, 50-over cricket, 20-over cricket, be one of the all-time great players - without putting too much pressure on him!

"He's not going to average that [over 100] for the course of his career, it is a purple patch of extraordinary form, you get them if you're lucky and he's been able to drag his out quite long and he'll be wanting to continue.

"There's so many questions about what's going to happen - the IPL, is he going to get burnt out at some stage? He can't play every format and every game, but when you're young you want to carry on and play every day."

Matthew Cooper