Adelaide [Australia], December 15 : England's Test vice-captain Harry Brook has admitted that the ongoing Ashes series hasn't gone well for him and the star batter needs to curb his aggression for the upcoming Adelaide Test against Australia, starting on December 17.
Speaking after England's training session at the Adelaide Oval, Brook, who his on his maiden Ashes Tour in Australia, was frank about his self-assessment. The star batter admitted that over-aggression and lapses in judgment have hurt both him and the team at key moments.
"It hasn't been an ideal series. Sometimes, I've got to rein it in a little bit: learn when to absorb the pressure a little bit more, and realise when the opportunity arises to put the pressure back on them. I feel like I haven't done that as well as I usually do. I just haven't identified those situations well enough," Brook said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Brook has made 52, 0, 31 and 15 in the first two Tests of the five-match Test series against Australia. England's Test vice-captain acknowledged two of his dismissals - caught behind driving at a back-of-a-length ball in the second innings in the Ashes opener in Perth, and edging a booming drive to second slip off Mitchell Starc's delivery in the first innings of the second Test in Brisbane.
"Most of the time when I've been overly aggressive is when we've lost early wickets and I've tried to counter-punch and put them back under pressure. I tried to do that in Perth in the first innings: I played quite nicely and gloved down the leg side. I try to read situations as well as possible, and then it all depends on my execution. And so far [in this series], my execution hasn't been as good as it has been at the start of my career," Brook added.
"You can't take this bowling attack lightly: they very rarely miss," Brook said. "You've got to try and create your own bad balls. Doing that might be me running down; it might be me changing my guard or whatever. Look, they don't miss often and you've got to tip your hat to them sometimes. They've bowled really well in this series," he said.
Meanwhile, England have announced their playing XI for the third Test against Australia in Adelaide. The Three Lions have made a single change as speedster Josh Tongue replaced Gus Atkinson.
England opted not to include Shoaib Bashir, despite the Adelaide pitch promising to be the most spin-friendly of this Ashes series.
Trailing 2-0, England were always expected to make changes for their must-win Test. However, after head coach Brendon McCullum publicly backed a struggling top seven earlier, he and captain Ben Stokes have made only one adjustment, with Gus Atkinson dropping out.
Atkinson has struggled throughout the tour. He has taken just three wickets from 54 overs at an average of 78.66--the highest among England's bowlers.
England have turned to Josh Tongue. Tongue will earn his seventh Test cap since debuting in the 2023 home season, having claimed 31 wickets at an average of exactly 30.
This will be Tongue's second outing against Australia, having previously played at Lord's in the last Ashes, where he took five wickets in the match, including dismissing Steven Smith twice--though the first came when Smith was on 110.
The 28-year-old has taken Smith's wicket four times overall: once for Worcestershire in the 2023 County Championship when Smith was representing Sussex and again in this year's edition of The Hundred.
England playing XI for Adelaide Test against Australia:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue.