New Delhi: Former Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann on Sunday lavished heavy praises on England’s up-and-coming star Harry Brook and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, naming them among the top five players he coached or bowled against throughout his career.
Brook continued his fine run in Test cricket, scoring a century against West Indies in the second Test at Nottingham on Sunday. In the second innings, Brook scored his fifth Test ton and first one in front of his home crowd in the UK. He scored 109 on 132 balls, with 13 fours. His knock came at a strike rate of 82.58.
Brook has been consistent for England in Tests, scoring 1,376 runs in 14 Tests at an average of 62.54 and a strike rate of 90.70. He has scored five centuries and eight fifties in 23 innings, with the best score of 186. His average of 62.54 is the second-highest in Test history among players with minimum of 20 Test innings. It is below the batting average of legendary Australian batter Donald Bradman, who scored 6,996 runs in 52 Tests at an average of 99.94, with 29 centuries and 13 fifties.
On the other hand, the Indian skipper Rohit is in news for winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 with Men in Blue, ending the team’s 11-year-old ICC trophy drought.
Taking to X, Lehmann also mentioned Australian legend Steve Smith, South African batting icon AB de Villiers and Sri Lankan legendary wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Sangakkara as other players in his top five.
“The top 5 I have coached and thrown too are in no particular order: Smith @stevesmith49 Rohit Sharma @ImRo45 Harry Brook @YorkshireCCC AB Devillers @ABdeVilliers17 Sanga @KumarSanga2,” tweeted Lehmann.
In the second Test, the West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first.
England delivered a fine batting performance, powered by Ollie Pope’s sixth Test ton (121 in 167 balls, with 15 fours and a six) and fine half-centuries from Ben Duckett (71 in 59 balls, with 14 fours) and skipper Ben Stokes (69 in 104 balls, with eight fours). England made 416/10 in 88.3 overs.
Alzarri Joseph (3/98) was the pick of the bowlers for WI. Jayden Seales, Kavem Hodge, Kevin Sinclair took two wickets, while Shamar Joseph got one wicket.
In their first inning, WI was struggling at 84/3, staring at yet another potential big loss.
However, Alick Athanaze (82 in 99 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Kavem Hodge (120 in 171 balls, with 19 fours) pulled out a brilliant counter-attacking partnership of 175 runs. Later on, wicketkeeper-batter Joshua da Silva (82* in 122 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes) pulled off an impressive 71-run partnership for the tenth wicket along with Shamar Joseph (33 in 27 balls, with five fours and two sixes), which helped WI breach England’s first innings score and take a 41-run lead. WI was bundled out for 457 runs in 111.5 overs.
Chris Woakes (4/84) was the top wicket-taker for England. Young pacer Gus Atkinson and spinner Shoaib Bashir also took two wickets each, while skipper Ben Stokes and Mark Wood got one.
In their second inning, England responded to West Indies’ fightback with vigour and loads of runs. While Ben Duckett (76 in 92 balls, with 11 fours) and Ollie Pope (51 in 67 balls, with six fours) scored fifties, Root (122) and Harry Brook (109 in 132 balls, with 13 fours) scored big centuries to take England to 425/10 in 92.2 overs, setting the West Indies a target of 385 runs to win.
Seales (4/97) was the leading wicket-taker for West Indies in the second innings, with Alzarri also getting two scalps. Shamar, Sinclair and Holder got a wicket each.
