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Young England batter Harry Brook took the 'Bazball' approach to the next level smashing five sixes in an over in a two-day warm-up game against New Zealand XI. At Seddon Park, Hamilton, Brook took 20-year-old Indian-origin off-spinner Adithya Ashok to the cleaners as he whacked him for five consecutive sixes.
It was in the second session of Day 1 of the warm-up clash on February 8. Brook was batting on 56 off 55 deliveries as England batted like it was white-ball cricket. Brook made use of the short boundaries at Hamilton and tonked five sixes. Three of these sixes came off the back foot, one off slog sweep and he ended the over with a six dancing down the wicket.
Brook missed his century by just three runs. He was dismissed by 22-year-old pacer Jarrod McKay He took just 71 deliveries to score 97 runs. His blinder of a knock included seven fours and nine sixes.
Last year, Brook brought up his maiden Test ton from 80 deliveries against Pakistan at Rawalpindi. While he is just four Test matches old, he has an average of 80 and strike rate 92.13, the latter even legendary batters do not possess in ODI cricket.
Apart from Brook, Joe Root (69-ball 77) and Daniel Lawrence (55-ball 88) scored half-centuries in similar fashion as England racked up 465 in just 69.2 overs at a run rate of 6.7 runs per over.
"I think I've got a little bit stronger and I feel like I'm hitting the ball a bit harder," a confident Brook said.
“Whether that's just because I've been given the freedom to go out and play in a positive way, take the match on, or whether I've actually got stronger, I just feel like I'm hitting the ball a lot harder than I was before.”
Brook recently made his ODI debut as well. In the three-ODI series against England he registered two single-digit scores and hit a half-century. Surprisingly, his strike rate in ODIs is only slightly better at 98.85.
Thanks to his performances in sub-continent conditions against Pakistan, he was on few franchises buying list in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) paid a premium for him as they roped his services for the upcoming season for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore.
It will be interesting to see if Brook continues his dominance in Test cricket when England take on Tim Southee-led New Zealand in two-Test series starting February 16 at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.
