Brook vows to reduce undue risks in his batting as he seeks to temper his approach in the third Test at Adelaide.
In response to Joe Root’s warning to Australia that Harry Brook is a “generational player” who “is going to deliver at some point” in the series, Brook has promised to modify his approach against Australia following a hectic start to the Ashes.
In the first two Tests of the series, Brook, who is on his first Ashes tour, scored 52, 0, 31, and 15. He admitted that “shocking shots” were the cause of two of his dismissals: being caught behind driving at a back-of-a-length ball in the second innings in Perth and edging a booming drive to second slip off Mitchell Starc in the first innings in Brisbane.
With a high strike rate of 87.36 and an average of 55.05 after 32 Test matches, Brook has excelled while counterattacking from No. 5. He acknowledged that he might need to “rein it in a little bit” against Australia’s “highly-skilled” attack, but his strategy in this series has verged on recklessness, especially when he faced Starc in the twilight at the Gabba.
“It hasn’t been an ideal series,” Brook said on Monday, after England trained at Adelaide Oval. “Sometimes, I’ve got to rein it in a little bit: learn when to absorb the pressure a little bit more, and realise when the opportunity arises to put the pressure back on them. I feel like I haven’t done that as well as I usually do. I just haven’t identified those situations well enough.
“Most of the time when I’ve been overly aggressive is when we’ve lost early wickets and I’ve tried to counter-punch and put them back under pressure. I tried to do that in Perth in the first innings: I played quite nicely and gloved down the leg side.
“I try to read situations as well as possible, and then it all depends on my execution. And so far [in this series], my execution hasn’t been as good as it has been at the start of my career.”
“They were shocking shots,” Brook said. “I’ll admit that every day of the week, especially that one in Perth: it was nearly a bouncer and I tried to drive it. It was just bad batting. The one in Brisbane, I’ve tried to hit for six.
“That’s what I mean when I try to say that I need to rein it in a little bit. I can almost just take that and hit it for one and get down the other end. Whoever else is in with me at the other end can just get on strike and just keep trying to rotate.
“But I’ll be the first person to stand up and say that they were bad shots. I don’t regret them, but if I was there again, I would try and play it slightly differently.”