The Ashes 2025-26: Can England beat ‘evolving’ Harry Brook after tour of Australia?

Although it was late for the series, most of these roles were what Brook England fans requested.

He came in at 57-3, easing to 20 off his first 30 balls with little warning.

After the second ball from the inside edge narrowly missed the stumps, he dropped his next delivery on the outside side and bowled the strike.

Across his 92 balls, he defended or abandoned 53% of the deliveries at the classic ‘good length’ – a good jump on the first four Tests of the series.

Brock seems to be learning.

But things are rarely clear with the England vice-captain.

In Melbourne, he passed 3,000 Test runs in his 57th innings, a number that can only be bettered by Herbert Sutcliffe in England, and yet it still causes a lot of frustration.

He had hit 15 in seven of his previous eight rounds on tour without going beyond 51 – falling on at least two occasions on shots he himself described as “shocking”.

Here, after saying in Adelaide that he wanted to learn when it was best to apply pressure, Brook reached the finish undefeated but almost collapsed in another wave of blood.

Did you learn, Harry? truly?

Brook had 38 off 48 balls to his name when Australia turned to the more straightforward tactics.

Captain Steve Smith and bowler Mitchell Starc stood together, five players were pushed into the shadows of the famous stands at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the ball was bowled short.

Australia knew what was coming next, and so did the England fans. Brock could never resist.

Two balls into plan B for Australia, one that reduced the best bowler of the series in Starc to a battering ram, Brook backed away and almost caught the fielder lurking at number three.

In Starc’s next over, he was given a warning when he missed a pull shot towards the middle, only to shrug it off and repeat the shot from his next delivery.

The ball flew high into the sky but none of the three Australians stationed could cover the ground needed to complete the catch.

This time, Brock survived.

After passing Starc, Brook misplaced another bouncer near fine leg.

Then, instead of stopping his shot, he unleashed his full force to lift another shot from Cameron Green into the stands.

Brock’s reaction was typical.

“I didn’t feel like I was controlling the ball like I usually do,” he said.

“Obviously the wind was going in that direction, so I felt like everything was ready for me, and everything was going faster when I started trying to get airborne.

“And if you get a little bit of the ball, it often hits six.”