Cricket
Harry Brook hopes England can be leading T20 side after series win over India
Harry Brook admits England are “eyeing up” the world number one spot in T20 cricket after clinching a handsome series win over India.
England thrashed India by nine wickets at Bristol on Thursday to take an unassailable 3-0 series lead ahead of the final rubber in Southampton.
Victory at the Utilita Bowl on Saturday would see England replace India at the top of the men’s world T20 rankings.
“To beat India 4-0 would be a pretty special series win, to go number one in the world would be even better,” Brook said after guiding England to another one-sided success with an unbeaten 79 from 35 balls.
“We’ve been told if we win the next game we go to world number one and that’s definitely a prize we’re eyeing up.
“That’s our main aim, we want to go out there and beat them convincingly.
“I think we’ve got such a good side and everyone’s buying in to what me and Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) are doing.”
It is under a fortnight since England suffered a Test series defeat to New Zealand and captain Ben Stokes shocked the sport by retiring from international cricket.
Asked if the subsequent T20 form had changed the mood of English cricket, Brook said: “The white-ball side’s been on a really good path if I’m being brutally honest.
“We’ve been playing extremely good cricket and adapting to the surfaces really well.
“We had a good World Cup and fell just short of 250 in a (semi-final) chase at the Wankhede Stadium (against India), which is incredible.
“It might have changed the mood a little bit, but we’ve still got one game to play. Hopefully we can go to world number one and beat a very strong Indian side.”
England had hammered India by 125 runs at Trent Bridge on Tuesday and were in no mood to let the visitors grab a series lifeline in the West Country.
Jofra Archer (two for 20) and Josh Tongue (two for 38) were in the wickets again.
Sam Curran and Will Jacks only conceded 24 and 28 runs from their respective four overs to restrict India to an under par 158 for seven, which was only achieved through skipper Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 80.
Brook and opener Phil Salt, who made an unbeaten 59 from 42 balls, saw England home with a brutal partnership of 146 as England won with 37 balls to spare.
“We adapted to the surface really well,” Brook said. “We thought bowling top of the stumps, using your cutters and slightly shorter of a length was the hardest to hit, especially cross-batted.
“We executed really well and the communication from the coaches on to the field was exceptional.”
