Eng vs Ind, 1st T20I - Harry Brook - Test captaincy would be 'great honour', as focus turns to India T20I

Stokes’ retirement from all international cricket, announced during England’s series-losing defeat in the third Test against New Zealand, has left a sizable void in English cricket. Brook, Test vice-captain since the start of last winter’s Ashes, was told by Stokes of his decision on Saturday evening, as was Joe Root. Stokes then informed the rest of the team in the home dressing-room the following morning, ahead of the fourth day’s play.

Brook, 27, was overlooked to skipper England for the second Test after The Kia Oval, when Stokes was stood down following an ill-fated night out after the first Test, in which Stokes and Gus Atkinson broke the team’s midnight curfew. At the time, managing director Rob Key stated it was the best for Brook to solely focus on cricket, and it would have prompted awkward questions given the curfew’s existence was partly triggered by Brook’s scuffle with a bouncer in Wellington prior to last winter’s Ashes.

Root captained at The Oval as interim, reprising the role he stepped down from in 2022. However, the feeling is he would not want to take on the role long-term, and Stokes’ backing of Brook as his successor could be partly down to his best friend’s reluctance to take the reins once more.

A former England U19 captain, Brook has led England’s white-ball sides since last year. And speaking at Bankshome Riverside on the eve of the T20I series against India, the Yorkshireman confirmed his desire to become the 83rd man to captain England in Tests.

“Look, it would be a great honour to do it,” said Brook on Tuesday. “It’d be a privilege to do it, to captain England in the highest format of our game, and the pinnacle.

“Playing Test cricket is the greatest thing that I’ve ever done in my life, and it’s a dream, and something that I’ve always wanted to do since I could speak. It’s not up to me, that decision, but if I got offered it, then I’d be happy to take it.”

Brook insists he could combine skippering the Test with his existing white-ball commitments. The last man to be put in charge of all formats at the same time was Andrew Strauss in 2009, long before the shortest format had gone mainstream. He captained just one T20I against West Indies on England’s tour of the Caribbean, and never again.

“I think it is possible,” Brook said, having been hit with a two-year ban from the IPL last year when he pulled out of deal with Delhi Capitals in order to take over as the white-ball captain. “I’m not saying it would be easy, but I definitely do think it is possible. The fact I don’t play franchise cricket means there are periods in my calendar when I wouldn’t be playing cricket.

“I’d be focussing on my fitness and getting ready to play all three formats, which has been a dream of mine since I could speak or walk. If I am or I’m not captain for England in Test cricket, I’d happy to just still be playing for England.

“I’ve committed completely to England cricket. I’ve said that I don’t want to play any franchise cricket barring the Hundred, and everything that I want to do is to play cricket for England, and whatever I do, on and off the field, is to try and perform as well as I possibly can for England. Hence the reason I don’t play in the IPL and PSL and all the other franchise competitions.”

Despite Brook’s appetite, the ECB are reluctant to lumber him with all three gigs given his already packed schedule. There will also be concerns about the effect the white-ball role is having on his current Test form. He has gone 16 innings without a Test hundred, averaging 38.33 across five Ashes Test and the recent three against New Zealand.

Brook’s presence in Durham a day after England had concluded their three-match Test series against New Zealand underlines the pull on him already.

On the morning of the final day at Trent Bridge, Brook arrived early to hit white balls in the nets with Jacobe Bethell, with both already dismissed in England’s ill-fated fourth-innings chase. They, along with, head coach Brendon McCullum, travelled up from Nottingham on Tuesday morning ahead of Wednesday’s match.

“We only just got here this morning, had lunch, then you’re out on the park. We haven’t spent time with any of the lads.” It was only at lunch, prior to the afternoon’s training session, that Brook met uncapped allrounder James Coles for the first time, having only previously played against him twice in The Hundred.

At various points in the series, Brook and McCullum turned their attention to India, with the five-match T20I series, which starts on Wednesday, followed closely by three ODIs. The pair have grown closer since Brook took on the white-ball leadership. Test captaincy, even in isolation, would further strengthen that bond.

“I love working with Baz, he’s a great bloke and an unbelievable coach, some of the things he’s taught me throughout my career, giving us the opportunity to go out there and play in the style him and Stokesy wanted us to play, that suited me to a tee to start with. Then it’s just trying to evolve as much as you can as a player, take some of those learnings from the past, act on them in games.”

That McCullum and Brook were able to come out of a tough 4-1 loss in Australia and head straight into World Cup was a feather in their respective caps, and is partly why McCullum remains in his post following the review into the Ashes. They evolved together during that tournament, leading England to the semi-finals, losing narrowly to eventual winners India.

Both Brook and Bethell, who struck a magnificent 105 in that seven-run defeat, will jump straight into coloured clothing from their whites for the first T20I, with just two changes from the XI that night in Mumbai. Jofra Archer has been rested after playing the last two Tests and Jamie Overton is missing after injuring his right thigh while playing for Chennai Super Kings at the IPL. Josh Tongue, like Archer, has been rested from the first match and will meet up in Manchester ahead of Saturday’s second T20I.

Saqib Mahmood will make his first appearance for England since last September’s ODI against South Africa. Left-arm seamer Luke Wood is back in after a single appearance at the World Cup, alongside a settled batting line-up.

“I said in the press conference after the semi-final, we were never out of games,” Brook said, when asked how this team moves forward. “It felt like that the whole way through the World Cup.

“We found ourselves in some tricky situations against some lesser sides, and then we ended up nearly chasing 250 against the world champions in the semi-final. So [we need] a bit more of that and evolving as a team well, tactics behind the scenes that I don’t need to go into, but execution of those tactics and trying to upskill as much as we can.”

England XI: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Harry Brook (capt), 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Tom Banton, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Luke Wood, 11 Saqib Mahmood

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at Cricinfo

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