T20 World Cup: How Harry Brook put his ‘hardest winter’ behind him

When Harry Brook’s masterclass ended to peach of an yorker from Shaheen Afridi after a 50-ball century, the Pakistan pacer almost ran down to the England captain to laud his innings. The former had, by then, almost closed the crucial game for his team but it didn’t prevent Afridi from an appreciative gesture – and the reason was understandable.

This was the fourth century of the ongoing T20 World Cup – but the 27-year-old England white ball captain had just played an innings which has become the flavour of the tournament so far. It had been a rather indifferent tournament for arguably the team’s best batter in this format, what with Jos Buttler looking a pale shadow of himself. The two-time champions may have made their fifth semi-final in a row since the 2016 edition on a balmy night in Pallekele, but their performance clearly lacked the air of domination in the league stages.

Brook’s best effort was a 53 in their opening league game against minnows Nepal – and many felt he was holding himself too far back after the likes of Jacob Bethell or Tim Banton. However, the challenging conditions in Sri Lanka necessitated someone with the skillsets of Brook to come up at number three to anchor difficult chases – more in the Virat Kohli mould. Brook precisely did that as he took on a four-pronged spin attack of Pakistan with assured footwork, bringing out the occasion sweep and a combination of defence and aggression.

While 64 of Brook’s innings came from the big hits (10 fours, four sixes), he ran hard for the singles and twos to keep the pressure on the rival bowlers and fielders on his way to becoming the first England captain - as well as the first captain ever - to hit a century in the T20 World Cup.

When asked how far his promotion to number three was responsible for producing an innings of such quality, Brook said: “It was Baz, the mastermind, there. He had a discussion with me this morning about going up the order and trying to maximise the powerplay and thankfully, it paid off. It was to try and maximise the powerplay and put them under pressure early on,” Brook said at the post-match media conference.

Will it be a career-defining innings by Brook, who was elevated to the white ball captaincy in place of the legendary Buttler last year – but went on to endure a tough 2025 thereafter. ‘Harshest winter’ is how the Yorkshire man defined it when he failed to get a single century in 10 Ashes innings while revelation of a night club scuffle in Wellington soon after his appointment as white ball captain gave the déjà vu about Ben Stokes’ early days.

“It’s probably been the hardest winter of my life, to be honest. There’s been a lot of stuff behind the scenes. Well, not behind the scenes, but you know. It’s just nice to see some rewards from my hard work away from the ground,” Brook observed.

England next moves to Colombo to face New Zealand with not much at stake. After making it a two-out-of-two in Super 8 to be the first team to make the semi-finals, the spirits should be high. It looks like Brook’s ‘hardest winter’ is certainly behind him now!