On Day 1 of the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington, England was reeling at 21 for 3 when Harry Brook walked out to bat to join Joe Root in the middle. New Zealand pacers Matt Henry and Tim Southee had their tails up after taking the wickets of Zak Crawley (2), Ben Duckett (9), and Ollie Pope (10). Brook, on the other hand, showed no signs of nervousness. In his second delivery, he got off to a fast start with a clip off his pads.
His first home run came on his fifth pitch. Matt Henry’s bat found the outside edge, but it went through the slip cordon. How New Zealand wishes it had gone to one of the catchers. Since then, it’s been all about Brook.
The talented right-hander followed that up with a hat trick of fours off Southee. By skipping down the track toward the third boundary, he made his intentions clear.
Brook was named Player of the Match in the first Test after scoring back-to-back half-centuries to lead England to a 267-run victory.
He added to his incredible start to his England Test career with a magnificent unbeaten knock that included 24 fours and five sixes. His 184 points came from 169 balls.
He assisted former skipper Root in steering England out of trouble to 101/3 at lunch.
Brook and Root, in particular, put on a dazzling display of “Baseball,” the attacking cricket that England has become known for under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
They scored 294 points in an unbeaten partnership that left New Zealand speechless. As the afternoon progressed, Brook added to his three previous centuries against Pakistan in December.
Brook broke former India batter Vinod Kambli’s 30-year-old world record for scoring the most runs after nine Test innings with a stunning display of strokeplay. He became the first player in Test history to score 800 or more runs in his first nine innings. Kambli previously held the record with 798 runs in his first nine Test innings. He had four centuries, two of which were double hundreds.
Brook also surpassed legends such as Herbert Sutcliffe (780 runs in nine innings), Sunil Gavaskar (778 runs in nine innings), and Everton Weekes (778 runs in nine innings) (777 runs in nine innings).
Brook currently has 807 runs at a 100.88 average. Only Gavaskar (129.66) had a higher Test average after nine innings than Brook.
Root was more consistent but no less decisive, smashing his 29th Test century but his first in eight Tests. Only the rain could eventually stop them. Rain forced early stumps with England at 315 for 3 after 65 overs, with Brook unbeaten on 184 off 169 balls and Joe Root batting on 101 off 182 balls.
Brook’s 184* is the highest individual score in Wellington by an Englishman. Derek Randall set the previous record with 164 in 1984.
Given England’s precarious situation when he came into bat, Brook rated his Wellington knock as the best of his fledgling Test career.
“We lost three early wickets, which wasn’t ideal, but I came out and tried to counter-punch a little and keep us as positive as we could. Fortunately, it came off, “Brook stated.
