Follow UsEngland batter Harry Brook believes that the heated exchange between the Indian players and England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett was the turning point for the English side in the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar series, as it got them together and fighting hard against the visitors.
That was there to see in India’s second innings with the bat, as England got India on the backfoot with regular wickets in a small 193-run chase on Day five at Lord’s.
“Yeah, we saw them guys going at Creeps (Zak Crawley) and Ducky (Ben Duckett), so we had a little chat and we thought we were a team, so we may as well combine with each other, get together and yeah, go back in there,” Brook said in the press conference ahead of the fourth Test in Manchester.
The England batter added that his team, despite everything that happened in the Test, tried not to toe the line and play with the spirit of the game intact.
“We’d try and play in the spirit of the game as much as possible,” Brook said.
“And like you said, them lads went hard and Creeps and Ducky on that night when they Bumrah bowled that single over. So we watched that and we reassessed and we thought it was the right time to go back at them.”
After that heated exchange, England were relentless with the ball, and persevered through as the Indian lower-order put up a massive fight. Brook told that the intensity was so high on Day five that it felt like all of the 11 English players are going after the two Indian batters.
“I’ve had a lot of compliments. Everybody said that it was awesome to watch and it looked like there was 11 versus 2 out there and we’re fielding and it was good fun. It was good fun. It was tiring, but yeah, it was good. It made fielding a lot more enjoyable,” the English batter added.
The fourth Test begins July 23 in Manchester.