Brook was recently promoted to vice-captain of England, and his rhetoric upon hearing about the diminishing chances of Cummins starting the Ashes series was typically blunt.
England batsman Zak Crawley and India captain Shubman Gill during a spiteful Lord’s Test this year.Credit: Getty Images
“With him out of their side for the first game, from what we’ve seen, hopefully that plays into our hands,” Brook said at an end of season awards night. “Obviously he is an amazing bowler and has been for many years; he bowls at high pace with high skill. But they have a lot of good bowlers, quick bowlers, so we can’t take anybody lightly.”
Joe Root, who is coming to Australia as a revered senior player rather than as the harried captain of the previous two unsuccessful touring sides, has not been shy in stating that this is England’s best chance in over a decade.
“It definitely does, if I am being brutally honest,” Root said recently when asked if this feels like his best opportunity to win the urn away from home. “The thing that I’m most excited about is going there with a completely different approach as a playing group.
Zac Crawley at the SCG last time. Credit: Getty Images
“We’re going to be able to hit them with something quite different in terms of our bowling attack, and the opportunity to potentially play three or four bowlers that bowl 90mph-plus for a sustained period of time.
“It’s not like we are going to go there with the same formula and expect different results. We are going to go there and try and do it in a slightly different way, which is really exciting.”
Whether it is Brook, Root or Crawley, all of England’s players will be earnestly hoping that Stokes, their talismanic captain, can keep his body together for five Tests. To that end, Stokes has pushed his men to take the ball away from him at times.
“I have full faith he is going to be there,” Brook said. “Everybody in the world knows what he’s like, his character and the way he just cracks on. That is the way the team is built now: everybody keeps going. If you do have a little niggle, just power through – and that is what he does so well.
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“There are people off the pitch to help with that side of things, but he told us last year as a group that if he gets into a position like that again, then go up and have a word with him. He wants to bowl long spells and that can sometimes be to his detriment.”
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