England batter Harry Brook has stated that England's come-from-behind win against India in the third Lord's Test taught him "you don't always have to be nice," and ended close to two years where they have been a bit too friendly. However, things changed drastically in the third Lord's Test - just after their head coach Brendon McCullum told them that they could be bit nastier and meaner and also had a chance to "go hard at them and create a bit of a niggle." - when they got an opportunity to shut the game on India in the Day five of the Lord's Test.
England's vice-captain said during the break after the conclusion of the Lord's Test and during the team's reunion in Manchester for the penultimate game of the series, which starts on Wednesday, July 23, he had received lots of compliments about the intrigue and drama created by the volatile outbreak of hostility at the third Lord's Test.
“Everyone said it was awesome to watch,” Harry Brook said. “It was good fun, I have to admit. It made fielding a lot more enjoyable.”
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Crawley's time-wasting methods turning point in the Test series: Harry Brook
It was England opener Zak Crawley's time-wasting methods on day three that brought spark and sledge in the ongoing Test series. The lanky opener had deliberately wasted time and did not allow India to bowl an extra over late on Day three of Lord's Test.
“Everybody saw them guys get stuck into Creeps [Crawley] and Ducky [Ben Duckett],” Brook said. “We just thought: ‘We’re not having that.’ So we all piled into them. A few days before, Baz said, Sometimes we are a bit too nice. [So] we had a conversation and said: ‘It’s time to not be those nice guys that we have been before.’
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“You don’t always have to be nice. We tried to create a bit of niggle. We weren’t being personal, we weren’t being nasty, we were just putting them under more pressure. We were doing it within the spirit of the game. We weren’t out there effing and jeffing at them and being nasty people. We were going about it in the right manner.”
England are currently leading the five-match Test series 2-1 and need just a win in Manchester to win the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
