England batter Harry Brook has claimed he is not looking at becoming England's new white-ball skipper, even as the future of current captain Jos Buttler appears to be up in the air.
Brook not focused on England captaincy
Ahead of the latest season of The Hundred, Brook was appointed as captain of the Northern Superchargers by new coach Andrew Flintoff as the team looks to bounce back from a rock-bottom finish in 2023. The batter says he wants to "see how that goes" before thinking about leading England.
Speaking to the press ahead of the third Test against the West Indies, Brook said, "This is my first captaincy role with the Superchargers, so we’ll see how that goes and then maybe I’ll have a different answer for you in a couple of months. For now, I don’t see anything happening any time soon. So I’ll just stay in the moment and focus on Test cricket."
Harry Brook has jumped up to No.3 in the ICC Test batting rankings following his second-innings century in the Trent Bridge Test, the highest he has ever reached in his short Test career.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 24, 2024
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The batter has made a flying start to his Test career, and is coming off a ton against West Indies at Trent Bridge. On his captaincy style, he said, "...I think I’ll be a fairly chilled captain. We’ve said all training will be optional. There’ll be nothing put on you as a player; just be chilled, relaxed. Go out there and express yourself and play."
Brook has captained at various age levels and in academy cricket. His most high-profile regular role as skipper came in 2018, when he was appointed captain of England U19's World Cup squad which also contained the likes of Tom Banton, Will Jacks and Dillon Pennington. At the senior level, he captained Yorkshire for four matches during the 2022 T20 Blast.
Harry Brook has jumped up to No.3 in the ICC Test batting rankings following his second-innings century in the Trent Bridge Test, the highest he has ever reached in his short Test career.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 24, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/xVPGDL6tk6 pic.twitter.com/7l5k7e7xPC
Mott, Buttler futures up in the air
Brook has emerged as a contender for white-ball captaincy following a disastrous couple of tournaments for England's men's team. On paper, the 2024 T20 World Cup was a decent one as England reached the semifinals, but the team won just one out of four matches against Test-playing nations.
This came on the back of a 2023 ODI World Cup campaign in which England won just three of their nine group stages matches, finishing seventh. These tournaments are a far cry from 2022, when victory in the T20 World Cup meant England were current holders of both white-ball World Cup trophies.
ECB director Rob Key has been non-committal on the futures of current leadership team Matthew Mott and Jos Buttler, saying that the review of their tenure is underway and that no decision has been taken yet. He has not explicitly backed them to remain in their roles.
Amid reports of Matthew Mott stepping down from England’s white-ball coaching role, Eoin Morgan has shut down suggestions that he could take over the job.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 24, 2024
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