Harry Brook: The Prequel
A cricketer on the rise, does England’s Ashes success in 2025/26 all hinge on one name? Andy Afford thinks so.
“I said when he came to us at 14, that if I were a betting man, I’d put money on him playing for England… I didn’t actually do it. But one of the other sports teachers, Mark Shopland, did. He had £100 on him at 100-1.”
I’m in conversation with non-gambling former Sussex and Durham keeper-batter, Martin Speight. The now 57-year-old coach may have missed out on a few quid as a side bet, but is nonetheless credited with overseeing the early career of one of England cricket’s current top two ‘best Yorkshiremen’. In this instance, we’re talking about Harry Brook.
It’s early in the New Year and although cricket is already going on in many parts of the world, England are in the January lull ahead of the team’s return to India, in this instance for the white-ball phase of their engagement.
Harry Brook of England celebrates his century during day four of the 5th Rothesay Test Match between England and India at The Kia Oval on August 03, 2025 in London
I’m sat in a cool coffee shop on Nottingham’s east side with the former winner of the Walter Lawrence Trophy, an award bestowed on the scorer of the fastest hundred of the summer. In this case for Sussex against Lancashire at Hove in 1992, made from 62 balls.
The hundred was made within a golden period for Speight, the dashing right-hander would also make a groundbreaking televised 50 in the 1983 NatWest Trophy final against Warwickshire at Lord’s. The innings casting him as arguably the first top-order batsman to conventionally – and successfully – sweep fast bowling. And where convention now means more of a flick or paddle, Speight’s was a full-blown down on one knee and over the shoulder version.
More conventional by Speight’s particular metric, Brook’s development as a batter is acknowledged as having been forged during his time with Speight at Sedbergh School, up in Cumbria. A place where Speight was a huge influence on the institution’s rise to become one of the country’s preeminent cricketing hothouses. And built around a wholly conventional approach to team cricket. That being to harness, shoulder to shoulder, prime cricketing talent alongside all-round sporting ability found in the school’s wider sporting stock. A formula that blended perfectly skill with power.
The place is – if you’re not familiar – a £15,000 per term public school. One founded in 1525. A place where, in the past 500 years, it has educated numerous ‘famouses’. They include writers Charlotte Brontë (author of Jane Eyre) and Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights). Modern-day screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty). Explorer Robert Swan OBE (first person to walk to both poles). Plus, England rugby legends Will Carling and Will Greenwood. In terms of cricket, three recent Sedbergh captains – Harry Brook, Matt Revis, and George Hill – all currently play for Yorkshire. With left-arm seamer, Mahika Gaur, already having made a big impact within the England women’s set-up, when fit. Her rise starting when still at school. And as recent as 2023.
Harry Brook, England.
But as big a fan as Speight clearly is of Brook, he is in agreement that the vision of the right-hander plonking Tim Southee’s perfectly acceptable away-swingers over extra-cover was never the formality it now looks, or looked, even during England’s successful winter tour of New Zealand.
Nor was 26-year-old Brook’s flamboyance as the fulcrum the Tourists’ dominance over the current world number one Test side generally. “He was incredibly quiet,” offers Speight, now the Technical Director of Cricket at Repton School in Derbyshire. The switch to the East Midlands coming after 13 hugely successful years at Sedbergh. “At that time, he hardly said a word at all. And he didn’t make a fifty for us in his first year in the first team. But you could see the potential. And he always had an inner toughness. But it was his capacity to learn that marked him out. And his willingness to work hard on his game as he did so.
“As a fielder he always had great hands, but we never let him just stand in the slips. It was always important for his all-round development that he got to run around in the outfield and learn to field.”
When boarding up in the far north-west Brook was a highly-rated young player. But not the dasher he is today. He is in good company now, with England having had its share of ultra-attacking bats around the top of the order over time. From, famously, Colin Milburn in the ’60s to latter day tyros in Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. And Gilbert Jessop’s 70-ball ton, made in 1910. That mark still remains England’s fastest-ever in Tests.
But it is in the wake of Brendon McCullum’s stewardship that personalities of all types – quiet/loud/thoughtful/brash – all have been encouraged to express themselves. All under the philosophy of setting players the goal of reaching their full potential with England, and the coaching staff helping them get there with whatever they think they need. Within an environment of progression and development. In sharp contrast to the expectation of players having already reached their peak when only just making the team. As was very often the case in the past. “He came to us from what you’d probably describe as an ordinary background,” offers Speight. “His dad, David, was a good league cricketer, but had found himself in a bit of well-documented trouble, and his mum, Lucy, is a hairdresser.
“I know at the age he came to us that things weren’t particularly stable for him at home. I thought Sedbergh could offer him something extra, and that Harry was the type of young person that we should try to help – in terms of support – if the school could make it work. Ultimately, it was the school’s decision that he came to us. I like to think it’s that pastoral piece of the puzzle that was as important in his development as anything else.
“Technically, he has developed over time. Particularly his backswing. Because he had, for a long time – if you remember – a closed bat-face at the top of the backswing. He found that bowlers were bowling off-side yorkers at him in white-ball cricket and he was struggling to get them away. We worked on opening the blade, in order to get those same deliveries he was struggling with, safely through the off-side field. But outside that it was always about alignment, making it as easy as possible for him to get the bat to the ball.”
In the three years spent at Sedbergh, Brook made nine hundreds, five in his lower-sixth summer. This would be his last with the team, as he wouldn’t have a final season with the school, as Yorkshire took preference in 2018. But in 2017 his 12 innings accrued 950 runs, five hundreds, and at an average of 86.36. “He was never one for the bowling machine. Always preferred facing real bowlers or the side-arm,” offers Speight, now on his third coffee and running hot. “As a young player, he rarely missed the ball at all. He never missed a run off his pads. He also had every back-foot shot in the book, bar the pull stroke. Being strong off the back foot is unusual in a young player, particularly someone who is tall. But it was always a bit of a tell-tale sign of what might be possible. In his final year he was able to dominate attacks, where previously he’d batted at a much slower tempo.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing. He was disciplined during an England under 19 tour, and in 2018 he found himself out of the Yorkshire side. “I felt there was a technical problem that needed addressing with how he was aligning his knees and hips to the bowlers,” clarifies Speight. “I think it was the first time in his career where he didn’t have the constant coaching support that he was used to.
“We also worked on finding him the right trigger movement to move him across his stumps successfully. Right up until his first-class debut he was standing still, with his bat held still at the top of his backswing, in his stance. But he decided that he wanted to be on the move. We looked at several movements, and he settled on South Africa’s AB de Villiers as the model.”
And what else does Speight – himself a scorer of in excess of 15,00 first-team runs – now look for when observing Brook from a distance? “Balls faced to runs ratio. I think this is a real measure of how he’s playing. If he’s scoring at a rate of 80 per 100 balls then I feel he’s well in control. If it gets higher, I expect him to get out.”
With only 24 Tests under his belt, and none of them in Australia, it isn’t easy to know how things might play out for Brook. But his ability to score quickly on pitches that are likely to encourage strokeplay, makes him – if nothing else – a bit of wildcard for Ben Stokes’ charges. But why is he England’s main man over the other Yorkshireman?
Averaging an as-near-as-dammit even 50 against every nation bar Bangladesh (24.50 over two Tests) and Ireland (29.66 in two Tests), Root’s average of 40.46 in 34 Tests against Australia is not to be sniffed at, nor is it outstanding. As Root no doubt is – despite what Australia’s former coach, Darren Lehmann reckons. That this average drops to 35.68 in 14 Tests down under – with no hundreds – speaks of a significant drop off rather than an anomaly
In Root’s case, there are mitigating factors, obviously. Australia being a top side for the duration of the Yorkshireman’s international career, and notoriously difficult to best at home. And the fact that Root endured two hammerings in Australia when captain, the role notoriously taking its toll on personal form.
With a long career as a benchmark, these kind of statistics are harder still to reverse. Banking some runs is definitely likely, but a major reversal would seem over-optimistic. And a reversal in team fortunes as unlikely still. Which leaves Brook as England’s most likely talisman.
In his favour are myriad coordinates. Firstly, it’s hard to contain batters when they get going on the hard and true pitches around Australia. And secondly, he’s hard to restrict on most surfaces. Also, if the ball doesn’t move sideways much, Brook is someone that tends to hit it. As observed by Speight. And with Australia likely to post a good number of fielders in catching positions, every time Brook makes contact, he’ll be scoring runs. And quickly.
The biggest questions are around the three big elements of what makes a player a player. Firstly, how Brook might cope emotionally with the pace of the bowling attack, allied to the hostility of the Aussie crowd and the likely intimidation of the Australian players. Tactically, can Brook bat effectively without the ability to pull and hook with conviction? And can he – with the adrenaline that comes with Ashes contests – maintain optimum tempo, and not start over-revving the engine? “I’m not sure how he’ll do, actually...” A moment of caution from Speight. “I say this, only because he’s struggled in T20 cricket there recently – be it the Big Bash or the World Cup. Mainly because grounds are bigger, so taking down spin proved harder than elsewhere where the boundaries were smaller. But, for balance, he had a very good winter there previously.
Nottinghamshire batter, John Morris
“More widely, the key for me will be how well he adapts to the extra bounce from the seamers, making sure he doesn’t bring the slip cordon – especially the gully area – into play.
“And I think workload, and the toll it takes is another element. He also has a lot of cricket to play between now and then, and inevitably how well he performs in the Champions Trophy, IPL, the upcoming India series, will all inevitably impact on his form, one way or another.
“From a team perspective, I think it’s important England don’t look too far ahead of themselves. They need to focus on what’s immediately in front of them. At all times. To get them there in good shape.”
Another England man with some pedigree when performing down under is former Derbyshire, Durham and Nottinghamshire batter, John Morris. Written into cricketing history as the co-pilot in David Gower’s ‘tiger moth over Brisbane’ escapade in the 1990-91 series against Australia, he also – like Speight – is another attacking trailblazer of the county game who’s colourful style and gregarious demeanour most-probably counted against him in successive eras of cookie-cutter England management and captaincy. Playing at a time where ‘personalities’ were frowned upon, rather than celebrated, as they are now.
Immersed in the game, Morris was also for a four-year period until 2011, head of cricket with Derbyshire, and a student of batting and the game generally. “I hope he’s learnt from playing against Australia over here…” Morris states. “He definitely appears to have, if recent performances are anything to go by.”
The stylish top-order man played more than 700 first-team games over a 20-year professional career, scoring 52 first-class hundreds and 10 white ball tons. He’s referring to Brook’s propensity to ‘throw it away’ at times. “I’m all for an attacking plan, but you still need to recognise when the bowler is on top,” he states emphatically, before continuing. “The answer isn’t always to hit your way out of trouble.
The 60-year-old also played three Tests for England against India, and eight ODIs against Australia and New Zealand. “I think the ‘Bazball’ thing – as they call it – probably got the better of him at times. And as great as it was to watch in 2023, I think he did cost England some potentially winning positions with his recklessness. But it’s all about thinking about it being five days. Even scoring at a rate of 60 runs per 100 balls is more than enough to win matches over this length of time. That would feel like batting in third gear with one hand in his pocket for Harry Brook.”