Brook Smashes England to Victory

There are certain sporting performances where you watch them and think, yes, that was very good.

And then there are performances where you start wondering whether the person playing the sport has accidentally been given a different set of rules.

Harry Brook’s 114 from 49 balls against Sri Lanka felt a little bit like the second one.

England won the first T20 by 119 runs, which is obviously a fairly comprehensive victory, but the scorecard doesn’t really tell you how ridiculous Brook’s innings was.

114 runs.

49 balls.

That means he was scoring at roughly 2.3 runs every time the ball was delivered to him.

I’m not entirely sure what you’re supposed to do as a bowler when someone is scoring at that rate.

You could bowl a good ball.

He might hit it for four.

You could bowl a bad ball.

He will definitely hit it for four.

You could presumably just refuse to bowl and see what happens.

At least then you’ve got a chance of making it to the end of the over.

The strange thing about Brook is that none of this looks particularly dramatic.

Some players make big scores look like hard work.

There are defensive shots. There are long periods of accumulation. There is the occasional moment where you can almost see them thinking about whether they should take a risk.

Brook seems to have skipped that bit.

The ball arrives.

He hits it.

The ball disappears.

Next one please.

And perhaps the most impressive part is that England don’t really seem interested in telling him to do anything different.

This is the modern version of England’s white-ball cricket.

Go hard.

Keep going hard.

If it doesn’t work, go home and try again tomorrow.

It is obviously not a completely foolproof strategy. Cricket is wonderfully good at reminding you that sometimes you can do everything right and still get bowled for 12.

But when it works, it is incredibly entertaining.

And Brook is probably the perfect person to make it work.

He’s captain, he’s confident and, most importantly, he seems to have that slightly concerning quality where you suspect he genuinely believes he can every ball for six!

Which is normally the sort of behaviour that left the public gently tearing for the Bazball era.

Unless of course if you’re Harry Brook and the ball is white in colour.

Then apparently it gets you 114 off 49.

Brooks talent is not news to anyone at this point. It long been obvious he has special ability and this white ball team is really starting to feel like his own.

Will we see the same again next time out in Cardiff?

Probably not. Cricket’s hard but this innings was special.

Because there is something brilliant about watching a player who looks completely convinced that the most difficult thing in the world is actually quite easy.

And right now, Harry Brook is making international cricket look like a game being played in the park with his mates.

Just with slightly better bowling.

And 114 runs.