England's Brook gains redemption after 'hardest winter of my life'

Richly talented but much maligned, England captain Harry Brook finally achieved redemption at Pallekele stadium in Kandy after a torrid few months — and came of age as a leader.

His match-winning century against Pakistan on Tuesday will go down as the finest innings of the 27-year-old’s white-ball career because it single-handedly took his side into a fifth successive T20 World Cup semi-final.

Facing a tricky chase of 165 against Pakistan at the Pallekele stadium in Kandy, England could have been in dire straits when they lost Phil Salt first ball of the innings.

But Brooks, who normally bats at number five, strode to the wicket first drop in a massive statement of intent that said “leave it to me, lads”.

He embarked on a majestic innings — the second fastest century in the history of T20 World Cup and first by a captain — in an extraordinary demonstration of leadership from a man who had copped more than his fair share of flak.

Before the tournament there had been calls for Brook’s resignation after he had to apologise for a Halloween incident on the white-ball tour of New Zealand, where he was punched by a nightclub bouncer — in his own words “a terrible mistake”.

On the eve of the T20 World Cup Brook admitted lying about being on his own that night to protect his teammates at the time.

‘A captain’s innings’

All this had emerged after an Ashes debacle where Brook failed to score a century and was castigated in the English press — and mocked in Australia — for throwing his wicket away with reckless shots time and again.

A mid-Ashes beach break had fuelled accusations of a drinking culture in the England camp, as he was photographed with teammates in bars, the beers seemingly flowing.

Brook answered all the critics in wonderful fashion on Tuesday night, demonstrating an intelligent cricketing brain to go with his unquestioned batting talent.

He judged perfectly when to attack and when to hold back, working singles and twos instead against a potent Pakistan attack who were taking regular wickets at the other end.

“It’s probably been the hardest winter of my life to be honest,” Brook told reporters after the match.

“There’s been a lot of stuff behind the scenes. It’s just nice to see some rewards from my hard work away from the ground.”

An awestruck Pakistan quick bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi pronounced Brook’s performance: “The best innings of his life. A captain’s innings.”

Brook was more modest, saying his one-day international century against Sri Lanka last month had been better.

“I actually think I preferred the Sri Lanka ODI to be honest,” said Brook.

But that was in a bilateral series; this one was in a World Cup.

“It’s certainly up there in the context of the game and the situation that we found ourselves.”

Not many people gave the 2010 and 2022 champions England a chance of becoming the first team to win the trophy three times when they stumbled through their group, losing to the West Indies and being given an almighty scare by Nepal.

Brook’s team are now just two knockout wins from the title and have repeatedly talked about preferring to “win ugly” than lose entertainingly.

“It’s just cricket isn’t it? We’re winning games, we’re not winning them perfectly,” Brook said.

“We haven’t had the perfect game yet and hopefully that’s just around the corner.”