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England batter Harry Brook praised his highest Test century to date and rated it as his best after helping England recover from 21 for 3 to conclude day one of the second Test against New Zealand on 315 without further loss.
Brook slammed a superlative unbeaten 184 runs in 169 balls on Day 1 of the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington. "I think so," Brook said when asked if this was the top of his four three-figure scores as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. "The position of the game makes that decision, to be honest. The ones in Pakistan were amazing and good fun, but they were all very flat pitches. Today wasn't a flat pitch. It's a good cricket wicket, but not a flat pitch where you can smack it everywhere. I've done that a little bit, but it's a pretty good pitch," he added. "It (the pitch) always gets easier when the ball gets a bit older. The longer you bat, it gets easier too. The hardest part about batting is the first 20 balls. If you get through that, it gradually starts to get easier. The ball got a bit older and it probably didn't seem to do as much. There was still a little bit there, and a little bit of bounce," he added. Brook was the major scorer in a yet unbroken stand of 294 - a new English record for any wicket in New Zealand - thanks to 24 fours and five sixes, with Joe Root - who peeled off a 29th Test century during his 101 not out - for the Three Lions. He arrived in Wellington with a Test average of 77 and now sleeps on an average of 100.88. "I'm sure it'll come down very quickly. The onus is clearly on staying grounded despite the tumbling records, and even putting forward a strong case for a fourth Player-of-the-Match award in a row. I've just said now actually good times at the minute, but just around the corner there might be bad times so you've got to enjoy these moments and cash in as much as I can," Brook said of that statistic. Brook is yet to make a double century, with a first-class best of 194 against Kent last summer, and would have done so on Friday if rain hadn't washed out the final 25 overs. In fact, he has a chance to outperform his head coach: it was on this field in 2014 that Brendon McCullum recorded his highest score of 302 against India. Brook, on the other hand, claims that his purpose is not to depose his boss, but rather to surpass his father. "One of the things I've tried to work on over the last few years is staying as level headed as possible. There could be a bad moment from the corner and anything could happen, so enjoy the good moments. But we've still got four days left to play, and hopefully I can be a vital part of it tomorrow," he added. (ANI)
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