England vs Australia: Harry Brook urges ODI entertainment as unified new era dawns

Harry Brook has urged England’s ODI side to play with the same freedom as the Test team, as they await the arrival of Brendon McCullum as head coach in the New Year.

Jos Buttler’s calf injury has seen Brook promoted to interim captain for this month’s five-match series against world champions Australia, which starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Marcus Trescothick, meanwhile, is filling in as head coach of the 50-over team until the end of the year, when McCullum will combine both the red- and white-ball roles ahead of February’s Champions Trophy.

Both men have played their part in the so-called ‘Bazball’ revolution of England’s Test team under McCullum, Brook as an aggressive middle-order batter and Trescothick as part of the New Zealander’s coaching staff.

With Jamie Smith handed the wicketkeeping gloves and Ben Duckett expected to open the batting, there is suddenly a closer alignment between a stagnant 50-over team and a thriving Test outfit, with Brook hoping one will wear off on the other.

“I think it's all going to merge into one at some point," Brook said. "It's all going to be played fairly similar.

"We're going to have the same principles or however we want to go about playing the game, trying to put that forward to the team already before Baz takes over.

"I haven't spoken to him much, he's kind of left it up to me and Tres, but me and Tres are both on the same page and a pretty similar page to Baz. Whatever you feel like doing, just do it.

"We want to go out there, be entertaining, entertain the crowd, take the game on, try to take wickets and put the pressure on their bowlers. In the field, try to influence the game as much as you can.”

Brook is set to bat at No4 throughout the series as he looks to finally launch a stop-start 50-over career. The Yorkshireman is already a T20 World Cup winner and has five Test centuries to his name, but averages less than 30 in his 15 ODIs.

That record is in part a consequence of a hectic multi-format schedule that has seen Brook rested for a number of ODI series since his international breakthrough in 2022, while England have not played one at all since December last year.

He was initially left out of last year’s World Cup squad, only drafted in at the last minute as an injury replacement for Jason Roy, and then spent the tournament being moved up and down the order, as well as in and out of the team.

England will delay naming their lineup until Thursday’s toss, but Brook confirmed that Jofra Archer will play his first ODI in 18 months in the latest phase of a comeback that has so far been restricted to T20 cricket.

The hope is that the seamer’s return to bowling 10 overs will be a stepping stone to a Test recall next year, when India tour England in the summer before the winter’s Ashes tour down under.