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The relief flowed after his maiden ODI century, a feeling you could apply more broadly to the last week, his central part in it and the situation his team faced at the Seat Unique Riverside. After two humbling defeats, England were well on their way to winning this third ODI in Durham. And a cricketer who perhaps did not realise how sapping ODI captaincy could be – “I was actually knackered when I got out there after 50 overs in the field,” he said at the end – finally got to experience being the lesser stressed of the two leaders.
Brook also won his third consecutive toss, and though that hadn’t helped at Trent Bridge or Headingley, conditions at Chester-le-Street were conducive to bowling up top. But it turned out to be the first of several correct calls in what turned out to be an accomplished day out for the 25-year-old.
“There wasn’t much turn and Beth was kind of just sliding it on,” Brook explained of the unusual placing. Granted, Green did not need to charge down and slap the ball straight to Potts – which Brook acknowledged in his own way. “It was a little bit of luck, to be honest, I’m not going to take the credit too much. But that’s nice to see, when you do make a change and it works straight away.”
An earlier tweak had seen the back of Marnus Labuschagne for a duck. The Australian No.5, keen to get off the mark while being denied options down the ground, attempted to find relief with a scoop off Jacks. A ricochet off his grille gave Jamie Smith a simple catch behind the stumps.
Winning helps of course, but Brook regarded this as an altogether more comfortable outing as captain. “Progressively it’s got more enjoyable. The first game I felt a little bit frantic, at times. But as the series has gone on, I’ve felt a lot more chilled.”
There were some welcome hallmarks of the Brook that England fans have come to expect. He explained his success as a case of keeping his head “as still as possible”, watching the ball and playing it late – traits which, to be fair, were abundantly clear today. But there were also the characteristic impulsive streaks.
The first time he used his feet was to carve Josh Hazlewood over backward point in the ninth over. He greeted the first deliveries of Maxwell and Short with lofted drives over extra cover, for four and six respectively.
In Jacks, he had an ally willing to keep pace, and even sprint ahead. The pair tag-teamed Mitchell Starc in the 23rd over, handing the left-arm quick his third most expensive over in ODIs (19). By the time their stand was broken for 156 – Jacks slicing to point for 84 – the ask was a manageable 138 from 135 deliveries. Brook seemed intent to drive, cut and scoop his way through that figure, eventually having to make do with 40 of the 87 England hacked off before the rains came.
“He’s an impressive player,” McDonald said. “He’s going to have a long career for England, and he’s going to give us some headaches along the journey.”
You could call this a statement knock of sorts. Two-fold, perhaps. The first being that it gave Brook the chance to clarify comments made after the first ODI. “If you get caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field, then who cares?” was the utterance in question, leading to widespread derision from fans and pundits alike.
“I think people took that a little bit the wrong way,” he said. “You’ve got to go out there and play fearlessly and almost have that ‘who cares’ attitude. That’s not a ‘who cares if we lose attitude’ – we still want to win. But you don’t want to go out there and have that fear of getting out.”
You could see what he meant at the time, but Tuesday’s knock – studded with 13 fours and two sixes – acts as a handy guide to make it crystal clear. This was Brook leading from the front, in a familiar sweet spot of showing just how much he cares through not caring the right way.
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
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