On the 7th of April, 2025 Yorkshire batsman, Harry Brook, was named as new England captain for T20 matches and One Day Internationals. The 26-year-old was widely tipped to get the job but there had been various alternatives mooted with nothing apparently off the table. The possibility of a leftfield pick from outside the current crop of England players had been suggested, whilst using Ben Stokes for either all matches, or just key games and tournaments, with a deputy/lieutenant taking charge of other clashes, had also been discussed.
In the end, the England hierarchy went for the most obvious selection in brilliant batter Brook, who it is assumed will take charge of the Test side in due course too. Brook only turned 26 in February and has his best years ahead of him, both as a run-maker and also as a skipper. That said, he has good experience too, having made his Test debut in 2022 and his ODI bow at the start of 2023.
Experience as Captain
England’s new white-ball skipper Harry Brook is confident of the team rediscovering their spark 🏴 🗣️https://t.co/uFBwW6Oc3K
— ICC (@ICC) April 13, 2025
His experience as a leader is prety solid too and his pathway has always been clear since his days as a teenager. In 2017 he was the captain of the England U19 side that played India’s youngsters in a five-match ODI series and the following year he led the same group of players at the World Cup. He performed well as captain at that tournament, being his country’s leading sscorer and also being named as a rising star by the ICC.
Rob Key and the rest of the England administrators will hope that captaincy can again bring the best out of him as England look to rebuild after a very disappointing few years in the white-ball arena. The signs are good in that regard, because the Keighley-born star has captained the senior ODI team before, doing so at the end of 2024 when Jos Buttler was absent.
England vs Australia
Brook led England against Australia, and whilst his side eventually lost 3-2, they performed better in that series than they have more generally in recent times. Moreover, Brook himself shone, his 312 runs in the series more than any player from either side. That included an unbeaten 110 from just 94 balls, an even quicker 87 (58 balls), and 72 from 52 balls in the final clash of the series.
Northern Superchargers in The Hundred
Brook has also captained the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred, and will be their leader once again for the 2025 season, where he plays under head coach Andrew Flintoff. The youngster will have learnt a lot from Fred, as well as from Joe Root, Stokes, Buttler and the other fine players and captains he has worked with.
That includes, of course, the man who now guides all three England teams, Brendon McCullum, and Brook is very much a McCullum-type player who has been a good fit with so-called Bazball. Brook made a sensational start to life as a Test player, scoring big runs at almost a run a ball. He managed 809 from his first nine innings at a strike rate of 98.77, and even now, after 24 Tests he averages 58.48 with a SR of 88.37. Now ranked the second-best Test batter in the world, behind Root, he did briefly top the standings, and will hope to move up in the T20 and ODI lists too.
Disappointing White-Ball Stats
Brook is clearly a generational talent, with Root and others stating that he has the ability to be England’s best ever batter, especially across all three formats. His style is naturally suited to scoring quickly and his range of shots and brilliant eye mean that he can hit even the best balls to the boundary.
Anyone who can score so quickly in red-ball cricket can clearly be a big hit in the shorter format, and Brook’s Test SR truly is phenomenal. Of the 50 players with the highest average in Test cricket, only one aside from Brook has a strike rate in the 80s and that is the legendary Virender Sehwag, who is 49th in terms of average and got his runs at “just” 82.23 per hundred balls. In fact, the pair are the only two in the top 50 who score at faster than 70 per hundred, showing what an outlier Brook is.
Strangely, however, he has not quite found his feet fully in either ODIs, or T20 games. He has not done terribly, far from it, and strike rates of 100.74 and 146.15, with ODI and T20 (international) averages of 34 and 28.50 respectively, are very solid. But they are nowhere near the level he has reached in Tests, far below what he is capable of, and far below what he demands of himself.
Currently ranked the 43rd-best batter in T20I according to the ICC, he has never been inside the top 10. In 50-over cricket his current standing is even worse at 63 and again his career-high in terms of ranking points (531) and position (46) are well below the level his ability merits.
Challenges Ahead
Harry Brook wants the England bowlers to step up and innovate after taking over as white-ball skipper 👊
Read more ➡️ https://t.co/uFBwW6Oc3K pic.twitter.com/s35IFIi8DC
— ICC (@ICC) April 10, 2025
There are a number of huge challenges ahead for Brook, McCullum, and English cricket. In both shorter formats they enjoyed huge success under Eoin Morgan but Buttler was unable to sustain that. England have got worse, with key players such as Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Morgan himself all growing old together. They have not been adequately replaced, whilst Stokes’ focus on the Test side and limited bowling powers have further weakened the side.
But it should also be noted that the rest of the world has got a lot better. Other nations and players saw what England were doing well and took that on board. In addition, the abundance of franchise cricket means that so many great players are regularly driving each other on.
England’s new white-ball leader announced that he will give these competitions around the globe the miss for the foreseeable future to focus on England. That is great news, and if Brook can simply bring his red-ball form into the shorter formats, that alone would go some distance to improving team performance.
He will bring fresh energy and new ideas to the team too, whilst hopefully also relieving Buttler of some pressure and enabling the Lancashire player to perform better with both bat and gloves. Brook is very hardworking and will lead by example and hopefully set high standards – in terms of dedication, fitness, fielding and culture – that can hopefully see England challenge at the two World Cups in the years to come.