Almost a year to the day, Jos Buttler sat in a press conference in Karachi and confirmed his decision to relinquish England’s white-ball captaincy, with Brendon McCullum by his side. The 2019 World Cup champions were about to enter a new era in white-ball cricket and were in search of someone who could elevate their cricket in the shortest formats.
A few months later, Harry Brook was the chosen one to take England cricket forward, and in 12 months’ time, he has led his team from the front, with timely critical contributions, and taken them into the semifinal of the T20 World Cup.
The highlight of his batting exploits came against Pakistan at Kandy, where his .
“I think the responsibility he took the other day against Pakistan when he came out and gets 100 or 50 balls almost to put us straight into the semifinals shows what a quality player he is.”
“And what a great time for him to find some form as well. He’s one of the world’s best players when he gets going. And he’s been great leading us and obviously giving full responsibility to the players, keeping nice and calm for us bowlers and things like that.”
“So yeah, we’re loving the new journey that we’re on with him. And hopefully, for him and for us as a team, we can be all together Thursday night and we can all have a cracking game. So yeah, Brookie’s been great,” all-rounder Sam Curran said in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
England may be the visiting side in the semifinal on Thursday, but in Will Jacks they have a local presence in their side. The all-rounder, who has been in fine form with bat and ball right through the tournament, plays for in the Indian Premier League and his familiarity with conditions at the Wankhede Stadium has even led to a running joke within the team.
“Yeah, Will’s been amazing. Such a very different role for him than what he’s used to. I guess scoring such vital runs at number seven and bowling some very tough overs, taking a lot of wickets. So we’ve been joking that he’s the local boy here. So I guess he’s got a lot of knowledge on this ground. We’ve got a lot of people who love playing here. So I think he’s got four man of the match so far. So he’s been absolutely amazing. And let’s hope on Thursday he can get his fifth man of the match,” Curran said.
Buttler has not been among the runs in this tournament, but Curran backed the former captain to come good on Thursday.
“Jos is someone I’m quite close to. Obviously, he would like to have had a few more runs, but I would certainly rather have Jos Buttler in my team than be coming up against him on Thursday night. He’s such a quality player and has done so well for us over many years.”
“He has also done well at this ground many times. So hopefully Thursday night is his night, but even if it’s not, there’s no question that he’s one of the best players in the world,” he said.
