EXCLUSIVE: Harry Brook has been named as England’s new white-ball captain as eyes turn towards who could succeed Ben Stokes with the 32-year-old continuing to struggle with injury
Darren Gough’s first move as Yorkshire’s director of cricket was to double “bright kid” Harry Brook’s salary and give him a five-year contract. Now, after Brook’s rise to become the chosen one as England’s white-ball captain, the ‘Dazzler’ fears the Tykes will hardly ever see him in a White Rose cap again.
If he plays for England in every scheduled international assignment at Test, one-day or Twenty20 level between now and the T20 world cup next February, Brook faces 81 days of elite competition across all formats.
Former England fast bowler Gough expects his appointment this week will lead to a natural progression as Test skipper in the long term. And the man who carried England’s attack in the 1990s believes Brook’s batting will flourish with the added responsibility.
Gough, who took 229 Test wickets and another 235 at one-day international level before a knee injury curtailed his magic, said: “Harry wasn’t just the best choice for the job – he was really the only choice.
“I think it will be a stepping stone towards him taking over the Test captaincy in the long run. He’s shown he can handle pressure pretty well. When he deputised for Jos Buttler in the one-day series against Australia last year, he averaged 78.
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“Captaincy brings the best out of some players, and its looks as if Brooky will relish the responsibility because he has already negotiated some big moments in his career.
“It was a bold move to give up his Indian Premier League contract to prioritise playing for England, but when you look down the order, he was really the only candidate for this job.
“He’s 26 now, he has a good cricket brain – don’t underestimate him as a thinker or tactician – he is possibly the world’s best all-format batter already and there’s some maturity left in the tank.
“As a batter, he picks the line and length of a delivery so quickly and he hits the ball more crisply than anyone I’ve ever known – and that includes KP (Kevin Pietersen).
“When I took over as director of cricket at Yorkshire, Brooky was down to the last six months of his contract but he was an unbelievable talent so we doubled his salary and gave him a five-year contract – and now we’ll never see him again!
“Once England came calling for him, that was it. He was always gong to be an automatic choice for them in all formats. He’s gone from being a tremendous talent, waiting to burst, to the box office player we see now.
“When he’s played county cricket for Yorkshire, he’s been unbelievable. On one occasion he put on a big partnership with Joe Root where they both got hundreds, and Rooty comes in and says, ‘Well, I’ve been made to look very average there.’ Captaincy will suit him. He’s a bright kid and, like I said, he will be England’s Test captain one day.”
Gough admitted he was alarmed by talk of Ben Stokes, the inspirational leader of England’s Test side, being considered for the one-day captaincy after the co-architect of Bazball’s two serious hamstring injuries since the end of last summer.
He added: “I thought it was a silly idea. Ben is a fantastic skipper, but with his injury record over the last couple of years, we need him to channel all his energy as a leader into Test cricket.
“If Harry wants him as a player in certain series or tournaments, that’s a separate issue, but its would have been too risky to put Ben in charge of an England white-ball team when he’s got such a massive year coming up culminating in the Ashes next winter.”