England captain Harry Brook admits England are “eyeing up” the world No.1 spot after sealing a dominant T20 series victory over India.
The hosts thrashed India by nine wickets at Bristol on Thursday to take an unassailable 3-0 series lead ahead of the ultimate rubber in Southampton.
Victory on the Utilita Bowl on Saturday would see England replace India at the highest of the lads’s world T20 rankings.
“To beat India 4-0 can be a reasonably special series win, to go primary on the earth can be even higher,” Brook said after guiding England to a different one-sided success with an unbeaten 79 from 35 balls.
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Major aim
“We’ve been told if we win the following game we go to world primary and that’s definitely a prize we’re eyeing up.
“That’s our primary aim, we would like to go on the market and beat them convincingly.
“I feel we’ve got such a very good side and everybody’s buying in to what me and Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) are doing.”
It’s under a fortnight since England suffered a Test series defeat to Latest Zealand and captain Ben Stokes shocked the game by retiring from international cricket.
Good path
Asked if the following T20 form had modified the mood of English cricket, Brook said: “The white-ball side’s been on a very good path if I’m being brutally honest.
“We’ve been playing extremely good cricket and adapting to the surfaces very well.
“We had a very good World Cup and fell just in need of 250 in a (semi-final) chase on the Wankhede Stadium (against India), which is incredible.
“It may need modified the mood slightly bit, but we’ve still got one game to play. Hopefully we are able to go to world primary and beat a really strong Indian side.”
Adapted
England had hammered India by 125 runs at Trent Bridge on Tuesday and were in no mood to let the visitors grab a series lifeline within the West Country.
Jofra Archer (two for 20) and Josh Tongue (two for 38) were within the wickets again.
Sam Curran and Will Jacks only conceded 24 and 28 runs from their respective 4 overs to limit India to an under par 158 for seven, which was only achieved through skipper Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 80.
Brook and opener Phil Salt, who made an unbeaten 59 from 42 balls, saw England home with a brutal partnership of 146 as England won with 37 balls to spare.
The skipper added: “We adapted to the surface very well.
“We thought bowling top of the stumps, using your cutters and barely shorter of a length was the toughest to hit, especially cross-batted.
“We executed very well and the communication from the coaches on to the sphere was exceptional.”
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