Harry Brook paid tribute to England white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum after they claimed a primary ODI series victory over India since 2018 with a 27-run win at Lord’s.
McCullum lost his Test job earlier this month after a house defeat to Recent Zealand.
Nonetheless, he has bounced back with England in a position to achieve an outstanding 4-0 T20 series victory over world champions India which was followed by a precious triumph within the 50-over format.
Ben Duckett’s masterful 141 proved the bedrock of a record-breaking total of 387 for 3, a brand new best ever List A rating at Lord’s with 91 for brand spanking new ODI opener Jacob Bethell.
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Inspired
There have been also late contributions from Joe Root, who made 74 not out, and Jos Buttler’s sparkling 13-ball innings of 41 proving crucial.
It earned England a handsome halfway advantage of this winner-takes-all contest, but Rohit Sharma put retirement rumours to bed with an equally stunning 138 to grow to be the primary India player to attain an ODI hundred at this historic venue.
Nonetheless, Brook’s decision to show to Bethell’s part-time spin proved inspired with the Barbados-born teenager in a position to bowl Sharma on a day where tributes were paid to his old mentor Sir Garfield Sobers, who died on Friday.
Sam Curran then struck twice within the forty fourth over before Virat Kohli departed for 74 to assist restrict India to 360 for seven, but Brook placed the credit for Bethell’s unexpected spell of 1 for 49 to the much-maligned McCullum, who guided England to only a second ODI series win over India since 2012.
Communication
“That was a troublesome little period, they were obviously getting ahead of the sport and playing rather well” Brook said.
“I made a decision to go off for an over and have a fast chat with Baz to assemble his thoughts.
“Again, it comes back to the communication which has been outstanding throughout the T20s, throughout the ODIs.
“They’ve a rather different view from up there, with the TVs and analytic work and going up there to have a fast chat to see what we could do.
“He said, ‘have a go together with Beth, a rather different spinner to what we’ve got with him driving it into the pitch,’ and thankfully it got here off.
“Yeah, extremely pleased with the way in which now we have performed throughout the entire series, going 1-0 down and the fight and camaraderie and belief to win 2-1 ultimately, like we did in Sri Lanka, I believe it’s a credit to the team, the coaches and an excellent performance.”
Tough
With England on the hunt for a brand new Test head coach and captain after the departures of McCullum and Ben Stokes respectively, Brook did his probabilities no harm with six wins across seven accomplished white-ball matches.
Yet, Brook acknowledged it will be “tough” to juggle all formats ahead of a 2027 where a house Ashes series is followed by an ODI World Cup in South Africa.
Brook added: “That’s not my decision. Whoever is the brand new coach may have that call to make.
“It will be tough to do it, but I’m not saying it’s inconceivable. If I get asked, we’ll see where it takes us.”
India captain Shubman Gill felt the late hitting of Buttler proved decisive, especially without the injured Jasprit Bumrah before he side-stepped questions on Sharma, who batted majestically after 24 hours of rumours it might be his final innings.
On Sharma, Gill said: “I mean he has not told us anything.
“I believe it’s all out within the media, but there has not been any discussions internally.
“Our bowling is a bit of inexperienced and we were put under the pump on this match and we didn’t respond.”
READ MORE: England hold off India charge after Ben Duckett ton to clinch memorable ODI series victory
