England's white-ball captain Harry Brook has not missed a single international fixture since the start of the 2025-26 season. Ben Stokes' shock retirement almost elevated Brook to all-format captaincy, only for the ECB to turn instead to elder statesman Joe Root. Following the appointment of Stephen Fleming as the new Test head coach, ECB managing director Rob Key said that it would have been "too soon" to hand Brook the top job.
But just as England navigated a changing of the guard, Brook sealed a landmark series double over India. "Captaining is bloody hard," Brook told Cricinfo at Headingley. "It takes a lot out of you. The way we played against India was awesome, but at the end of it, I was tired. And I was glad that I was coming back [to the Hundred] just as a batter."
While Brook feels it "would be cool to be England captain" across formats, the Yorkshire batter also admitted he would have needed a "hard think" had the ECB had chosen him over Root.
Brook is now back in Leeds, his home, for the Hundred. "It's nice to be here while this competition is on, seeing as it's my home ground and I've been travelling quite a lot already this summer - It's good to be back home and spend time with family."
The Hundred also offers the perfect chance for the Yorkshireman to reconnect with old friends and his childhood coach, Martin Speight. "He's been my coach since I was 13. I went to Sedbergh School, and he was my cricket coach when I was there. I've stayed in touch with him and still speak to him a lot now. Even though I don't see him as much, he knows my game better than anybody."
There's possibly something of Speight, who in 1992 scored the then fastest County Championship hundred, in Brook's counter-attacking batting style, and he still goes back to his coach for advice. "If you have a bond and a connection with a coach like that who you can trust, it'd be stupid not to use him," Brook said. "We keep in regular contact, and if he sees anything, he'll let me know, and I'll go to him and ask him about his opinion, so yeah, we're always in constant touch."
Family lore has it that Brook was in diapers when his family wagered that he would one day represent England. But when did Brook realise he could have a pathway to it? "Probably when I was playing Yorkshire age groups, getting a few runs here and there, you start to take it a little bit more seriously. And then I ended up being alright."
It was around then when the teenaged Brook first crossed paths with another Yorkshire great, the future England captain Root. "I remember bowling to him for the first time in the nets down in the car park when I was 14; I don't know why he was facing me," Brook recalled. "Obviously, they thought that I was a decent player and to go and watch him in the nets before a game would be a good idea. I went and had a little trundle to him. He's a pretty cool bloke and good lad to have around."
And Brook isn't about to let Root forget about that meeting. "I always let him know that I got him out in that net session," he said with a big laugh. Eventually, Root would be at the non-striker's end when Brook slammed his maiden first-class century in 2018, and also when Brook notched his first home hundred, against West Indies, in 2024.
"I've played a hell of a lot of cricket with him now, and obviously played a fair amount for Yorkshire with him. And it just happens, doesn't it? You spend more time with someone and [have] more conversations about the game, getting to know them more and even away from cricket, playing golf and going for coffee or whatever, it's always good to spend time with him, and he's a good lad and a good friend of mine."
Brook and Root were also reunited for Yorkshire's county game against Surrey at Headingley, when Brook rolled his arm over and took three wickets. Coach Anthony McGrath saw shades of Wasim Akram as the make-shift seamer bamboozled his good pal Jamie Smith for a duck. Is Brook taking his bowling seriously now?
"No, not really," he laughed. "I just got called upon when the bowlers needed a little bit of a rest and somehow managed to get a few wickets when I was out there, but I really enjoyed it, actually. It was something a little bit different for me, and to have an impact in a game with the ball was definitely new for me."
Swapping purple for orange this summer, Yorkshire's part-time seamer returned to Leeds as a pure batter in the Hundred. A lot has changed since the Sun Group's takeover of the Northern Superchargers, now renamed Sunrisers Leeds.
"Well, it's always going to be a little bit of change, obviously, with new owners, and there's a lot more orange around the ground now, as seen with the [Sunrisers] Orange Army. But it's the same with every franchise, really. You try and get to know everybody as quickly as you possibly can, build some bonds, and yeah, at the end of the day, we're all here to try and win a few games of cricket."
Bought for a hefty £1.35 million (US$ 1.6 million approx) by Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2023, Brook became the fifth England batter to score an IPL hundred. When the Sun Group acquired the Leeds-based franchise, Brook was retained as the most expensive signing for £465,000 on the back of a good 2025 season. "We had a really good time last year. We got to the semi-final, which was very good on our part, but unfortunately the rain got the best of us. Captaining under Freddie [Andrew Flintoff] was a lot of fun, and the team and the players we had last year were very good, but again, to come into this franchise now with new owners, so far, it's been a lot of fun too."
Currently serving an IPL ban, Brook is eligible to re-enter the auction in 2028. "Who knows what the future holds, but yeah, and like I said, I'm completely focussed on playing as much cricket as I possibly can for England, and that is my one and only priority at the moment," he said.
When asked if he would give the IPL another shot in the future, Brook replied: "Yeah, definitely. The IPL is a great competition, and it's a great experience, and you go over there, you leave a better player. It's a very good competition to be a part of, and it's something that I'll definitely think about in the future."
With a relentless England schedule in mind, Brook said he voluntarily stepped down from captaincy duties in the Hundred. "I think as a captain, you have to get to know the players a little bit more on a deeper level, and I didn't even have a training session before the first game. So it was like, I would have been rocking up and not really knowing some of the players, played with a few of them, obviously, but not really knowing them as people and as players as well as I'd like to."
Zak Crawley has succeeded him as captain for Sunrisers Leeds. "He's had a calm head. He's made some plays in the middle of games, which I thought won us the game [against Southern Brave], especially bowling Abrar [Ahmed], the ten balls [Abrar took 2 for 7 in the middle] and then taking the game deep as well. We've got Ellis and Carcy and Potts, who are all very good death bowlers, and they closed out the games very well, but he [Crawley] is calm. His calmness, his head while he's out there, and the control on the field has been exceptional."
Brook also enjoyed a match-winning partnership with Crawley for the record chase against Manchester Super Giants at Headingley. "For Creeps (Crawley) to go out there and play the way he did, having got a couple of low scores in the previous games, was an outstanding effort from him and a proper captain's innings," Brook said.
He reserved special praise for Mitchell Marsh, who became the leading run-getter of the tournament as Sunrisers smashed the highest-ever total in the Hundred a week later. "Marsh, the way he hits the ball is absolutely ridiculous. It's like a gunshot going off. It's nice to have him on our side and playing at Headingley as well."
Brook is also delighted to have New Zealand's Daniel Vettori as Sunrisers Leeds' head coach. "I've enjoyed him a lot. He's very chilled. And yeah, he's got a good cricket brain. As everybody will know, our conversations have been really good."
Brook is also clear about the Hundred's place in England cricket. "The Hundred has the highest standard for sure in English domestic cricket. You've got four overseas players - they're all international talents. You've got all the best players in the competition. They're all pushing for certain spots and trying to get different franchise gigs, and it's a good opportunity for a lot of players to push their case forward."
With Sunrisers now poised to play the Eliminator, Brook is slotted at No. 3, a position interchangeable with skipper Crawley should the team lose a wicket early. "I think having four overseas [players] does make a difference. You've got four more experienced players, and yeah, we've got a very strong side. I could see us going all the way for sure."
Brook is also the first batter to have gone past 1000 international runs across all three formats this year. If Sunrisers Leeds punch their tickets for the Hundred final, Brook will have to return to Headingley inside 48 hours to play England's Test series opener against Pakistan. "I'm just trying to focus on one game at a time, if I'm being brutally honest. That's my main priority at the minute. A bit of rest, a bit of gym, try and get ready and firing for the next game."