Moeen Ali has backed Harry Brook to play his way into England’s World Cup squad as the 24-year-old’s Yorkshireman’s impressive performances continue to give England what he called “a great headache”.
Brook is the nation’s form batter, having banked five half-centuries in his past 10 international innings in all formats and scored 1,692 runs for his country over the past 12 months at an average of 49.76. He was also responsible for the highest men’s individual score in the Hundred this year, a 42-ball 105 for Northern Superchargers against Welsh Fire.
But having been left out of England’s squad for the one-day international series against New Zealand that starts in Cardiff on Friday he is running out of opportunities to play his way into the 15-man World Cup squad before the 28 September deadline for a final list to be submitted.
“Harry Brook is going to be a great player, he’s playing great at the minute,” Moeen said. “He’s been unlucky to miss out but the way he’s playing he could come back in. He’s playing so well. It’s a great headache to have as a side, and I’m sure the captain and the coaches are thinking the same thing.”
But Moeen does not believe that Dawid Malan should be the one to make way if Brook’s case for inclusion becomes irresistible. Having started the T20 series against New Zealand with a half-century, Malan has scored two runs from 15 balls across his last two innings to find his place under scrutiny ahead of the final match of the series at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
England Jonny Bairstow, Ben Duckett, Dawid Malan, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c, wk), Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Brydon Carse.
New Zealand Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee (c), Adam Milne.
“One thing with Malan is he’s never let the team down,” Moeen said. “He’s always scored runs. He’s a top player, you’re guaranteed runs from him. These two innings, he’s obviously human and people do miss out but he will score a lot of runs for England to come.”
Marcus Trescothick, England’s batting coach, said he had no doubt that “eventually it will click back into place” for Malan, and also backed Liam Livingstone to play his way into form before the players leave for India on 27 September. Livingstone forced his way into the white-ball squad in with a sustained barrage of runs in 2021, culminating in him averaging 58 in the inaugural Hundred, but in this year’s competition he averaged only 16.66 and has not shone in two cameos with the bat against New Zealand.
“Before we know it he’ll be back and playing a major part,” Trescothick said. “The package Liam brings, the all-round cricketer we know he is and what we’ve seen in the past, let’s just give him [a] little bit of time. We know what he can do. He can win you the game with the ball or win you the game in the field, or with the bat, so let’s let it happen.”
