Skipper only just held on to his job after being involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington but he has a chance to make amends as the T20 tournament gets underway
Harry Brook will lead England when they start their T20 World Cup campaign against Nepal in Mumbai(Image: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
If you are the captain of ANY national sporting team, going on the lash and getting decked by a doorman the night before a game is unacceptable. That much is obvious.
Having the incident covered up and then telling only half-truths when confessing makes the crime even worse. And it is not as though Harry Brook is a kid. He is 26 and has been a first-class cricketer for the best part of a decade.
He has played 35 Test matches for England. So, yes, Brook is extremely fortunate to be leading his country into a World Cup. But let’s not pretend there is no precedent for larrikins being indulged by English cricket because of their prodigious talent.
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Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Ian Botham, who had a good few scoops immediately before his unbeaten 149 not out on the fourth day of the Miracle of Headingley. He also generated some lurid headlines on one particular tour of the Caribbean.
Ladies and gentleman, Andrew Flintoff, who took a pedalo to try and find Botham while under the influence during a disastrous 2007 World Cup. Famously, he also sank a few in 10 Downing Street.
Ladies and gentleman, Ben Stokes, involved in a scuffle outside a nightclub in the early hours of the morning. He was found not guilty of affray.
That is not to say the decision to keep Brook as captain was the right one but there have been plenty of players celebrated for compensating for their cavalier off-the-field approach with their cavalier on-the-field performances. And Brook has the chance to provide compensation in this T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
It is limited context, but there was evidence during the recent 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka that Brook is not only a supremely gifted player but might make an astute white-ball captain. And as they prepare for their tournament opener against Nepal on Sunday – presumably not by having a few liveners in a Mumbai nightspot – this is an England squad that has the tools to go all the way in the competition.
For starters, they have one of the best openers in white-ball cricket in Phil Salt while Jos Buttler and Brook are as destructive as any batters in world cricket. In the seam department, Jofra Archer and Sam Curran have lots of skill and experience.
And England, slightly unexpectedly, showed they have more spin options – clearly a decisive area in a World Cup in India – that some might have originally thought, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell taking seven wickets between them in the last T20 in Sri Lanka. It is, of course, a common trait in elite T20 cricket but England have dangerous batters from one to eleven.
Understandably, India are very warm favourites to win the tournament on home soil but this is an England side that can give Brook a real shot at redemption. Sport is full of redemptive moments for misbehaving superstars.
Remember Paul Gascoigne after scoring against Scotland in Euro ’96? If Brook acts out his own dentist chair-style celebration in Ahmedabad on March 8, he will be well and truly forgiven.
