Harry Brook: ‘England’s Kolhi’ adds to middle-order options after third century in as many Tests | Cricket News

Three matches this winter, three centuries. The most runs by an England batter on a tour of Pakistan, and a strike rate well in the 90s. It is fair to say Harry Brook has taken well to Test cricket.

Brook’s 111 in England’s reply to Pakistan’s first-innings total of 304 all out in the third Test in Karachi took him past the total of 449 runs on tour set by David Gower in 1984, and showed again why captain Ben Stokes recently made comparisons between him and Virat Kohli.

The spin duo of Abrar Ahmed and Nauman Ali in particular came in for some harsh treatment in particular from the 23-year-old before he was trapped lbw by seamer Mohammad Wasim, and Brook revealed afterwards that it was more one of South Africa’s modern-day greats than Indian superstar Kohli he took inspiration from.

“I try to take bits of the best players in the world and put it into my game,” Brook told Sky Sports. “I’ve watched quite a lot of AB de Villiers and the way he plays spin, quite a bit of his technical side has gone into my game on that front.

“I’ve scored a lot of runs in certain areas and I kind of stick to that, really. I feel like I’ve been very quick on my feet against spin, which has helped.

“The majority of my batting has been against spin, and I’ve been very confident against that out here.”

Brook once again displayed the hard-hitting which has caught the eye so much in the first two Tests of this series, striking eight fours and three sixes before departing, but in contrast it was a relatively slower-paced approach at the National Stadium as he scored his 111 off 150 balls.

The Yorkshire batter’s performances mean he will almost certainly be a part of the squad for England’s two-Test tour of New Zealand in February, having seized the chance he was handed after county team-mate Jonny Bairstow’s freak injury on a golf course ruled him out until next year.

Bairstow had been enjoying something of a renaissance up to that point, being named LV= Insurance Test Player of the Summer after finishing top of the PCA’s Most Valuable Player Ranking, and when he returns it will give Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum another option for England’s middle order.

Stuart Broad, who made himself unavailable for England’s tour of Pakistan for personal reasons, has been impressed by what Brook has brought to the team over the winter, having made his Test debut in the home series against South Africa at the end of the summer.

“One thing that oozes out of him is how much he wants to bat, and score runs,” Broad told Sky Sports. “I know that’s quite a basic thing to say, but he’s obviously got a great hunger for hitting boundaries and scoring runs, and his style of play seems to fit this new mentality beautifully.

“He plays with such freedom, but you never feel like he’s slogging, you just feel like he’s playing classy shots against the seam and the spin.

“He’s shown a lot of different qualities in conditions which are foreign to him – this is his first red-ball experience in these conditions.

“But he looks a bit like Joe Root did when he came on the scene, like he’s played a lot of spin, and he looks calm and at ease which is a great way to start your Test career.”

A possible return for Bairstow could hinge on what England decide to do when it comes to the person behind the stumps, with Ollie Pope having filled in for an ill Ben Foakes during the first Test in Rawalpindi and then remaining as wicketkeeper for the second in Multan.

Bairstow has taken the gloves in Tests for England too, but specialist wicketkeeper Foakes was given an opportunity to press for being restored to the role in Karachi, taking a stumping and effecting a run-out in Pakistan’s innings, and scoring a valuable 64 to help England establish a first-innings lead.

“I think these conditions suit him [Foakes],” former England captain Mike Atherton told Sky Sports. “I think he’s quite a good player on these slow, low pitches and we saw that when he first came into the England team in Sri Lanka about three or four years ago.

“He was the bridge between the top order and the tail. Ben Foakes was a key kind of fulcrum point in the batting line-up.”

As far as Brook is concerned though, he could not be happier with how the Test leg of the tour of Pakistan has gone after starring for England during the earlier T20 leg ahead of their triumph in the T20 World Cup in Australia.

“It’s a good feeling,” Brook said. “I think I was close to getting 1,000 runs in Pakistan this year [in all formats] as well so that was another milestone I was trying to tick off, but I missed one.

“I’m feeling good at the moment and hopefully it continues.”

Watch day three of the third Test between Pakistan and England, in Karachi, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 4.45am on Monday.