England head coach Brendon McCullum hailed white-ball captain Harry Brook for dealing well with the nightclub controversy. This comes after the latter got fined £30,000 by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for his fight with a bouncer at a nightclub in New Zealand. The incident happened right before England's ODI clash against the Kiwis. They had slumped to a 3-0 defeat in the one-day series.
England dominate over Sri Lanka
Brook's fight with the bouncer came into knowledge of the public after England lost the Ashes series to Australia by 4-1. He retained his white-ball captaincy despite the incident and put in a good performance with the bat in the side's tour of Sri Lanka. The 26-year-old played a phenomenal knock of 136 runs from just 66 deliveries in the third ODI and led the team to victory in both the one-day and T20I assignments.
McCullum remarked that even though Brook has had a tough time off the field, he has not let it affect his captaincy and batting perfformance. He also lavished praise on the latter's tactical skills.
"I thought Brooky was sensational with his tactics throughout both series. He's had a hard time of late off the field, but he's a tough lad to be able to put that aside and still lead these boys in the manner that he did, and show the tactical nous that he has as a cricketer was outstanding," McCullum said after England's victory over Sri Lanka in 3rd T20I.
"I do sometimes think that people think that Brooky's not that clever. I couldn't disagree with that more. He wears his intelligence lightly. He's got a very good tactical cricket brain. He's a work in progress off the field. He's not alone with that, and that's our job to help shepherd him through. But on the field, he's certainly excelling at the moment," he added.
England's next assignment
Brook will be leading the team in the 2026 T20 World Cup that is set to commence from February 7. They have been placed in Group C of the tournament alongside the likes of Italy, Nepal, Scotland and West Indies. They will begin their campaign with the clash against Nepal on February 8.
England's squad for T20 World Cup: Harry Brook (c), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Josh Tongue, Luke Wood.