Harry Brook has vowed to take more risks against New Zealand to keep England’s T20 World Cup on track.
But he admits he is feeling short of cricket after just two competitive matches in 17 days thanks to the tournament format and the washout with Australia.
The two games he has played have not been vintage performances from the promising youngster, and far from being the fluent stroke-maker he was in Pakistan and when he first arrived Down Under, he is now scratching around for his next run. And after some stern words from skipper Jos Buttler who railed against his team’s complacency, the onus is on the batters to get the job done properly on Tuesday night.
“The game against Ireland was obviously not great,” admitted Brook who made 18 from 21 balls. “Personally, I wasn't very good either. I didn't play the way I want to play my T20 cricket. I was a little bit in my shell.
“There was a lack of intent from me trying to nudge and nurdle it around when there's boundaries there to be had. I feel like batting at five is always a tricky situation and when you’re three down in the powerplay like the other night it is always tough. But knowing all the batting we had left to come I could have probably taken a risk earlier.
“I don't feel like I've played much cricket - we came from Pakistan having played seven T20s in 12 days and I don't feel like I've batted in a few weeks now. So they're good wickets to bat on as proven by a lot of players in the world but I haven't spent enough time out there yet.”
Brook is probably being a little harsh on himself as a 23-year-old coming into his first World Cup with 14 T20 caps and replacing a former skipper with more than 100 more. Still, he has plenty of ability and if he’s good enough to be picked then he is expected to make match-winning contributions.
But if he found life hard against the likes of Fionn Hand and Mark Adair, wait until Trent Boult and Tim Southee get at him along with the rest of the most in-form team in the tournament.
“We are ranked second in the world I think at the minute and we want to be one of the favourites to win the comp so to lose to Ireland obviously isn't nice,” he added. “But we've got to push that to one side and move on from that.
“I think Jos said at the start it felt like we were a little bit down, like we kind of felt we had already won the game before we got there. New Zealand are going well though at the minute, they're a very strong side and the way they played against Sri Lanka, Glenn Phillips coming out and scoring a hundred, they’re looking ridiculous. For me, they are looking like the favourites at the minute.”
