England's stand-in skipper for the ODI series against Australia, Harry Brook, has shattered the record of Indian icon Virat Kohli. Brook starred in his first assignment as captain with the bat as he piled up hundreds of runs in the five-match series against the Aussies.
Brook hit three consecutive fifty-plus scores from the third ODI onwards. He became the youngest England captain with an ODI hundred when he hit 110* against the Aussies in the third game. He followed it up with an 87 and a 72-run knock in the next two games.
Brook has now shattered a record earlier owned by former Indian skipper Kohli. Brook has created the record of most runs scored by a captain in a bilateral series against Australia. His 72-run outing in the third game saw him take his series tally to 312, two more than what Kohli made in a series in 2019. Former World Cup-winning captain Dhoni stands in third spot with 285 runs to his name.
Most runs scored by a captain in bilateral ODIs against Australia:
Harry Brook (England) - 312 runs
Virat Kohli (India) - 310 runs
MS Dhoni (India) - 285 runs
Eoin Morgan (England) - 278 runs
Babar Azam (Pakistan) - 276 runs
The 312 runs made by Brook is also the second-highest by any England batter against Australia in a bilateral series. The record belongs to Jonathan Trott, who made 375 in an away seven-match series in 2010/11.
England were asked to bat first after the visitors won the toss in the series decider. The hosts decided to bring back Olly Stone for Jofra Archer, while the Aussies made three changes.
Skipper Mitchell Marsh rested as Steve Smith was made the stand-in skipper. Cooper Connolly was handed a debut with Aaron Hardie and Matthew Short also coming in. Apart from Marsh, Alex Carey and Sean Abbott were not picked too.
England's Playing XI:
Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Harry Brook (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone, Adil Rashid
Australia's Playing XI:
Travis Head, Matthew Short, Steven Smith (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
