England are done playing the nice guys, and they aren’t hiding it anymore.
Ahead of the fourth Test in Manchester, batter Harry Brook has confirmed what many watching the Lord’s Test suspected: this England side has embraced a more aggressive, confrontational edge. The team is shifting gears, both mentally and on the field.
Brook admitted that the side had made a conscious decision to “get stuck into” India on the final day at Lord’s, a Test England won to take a 2-1 series lead. That day was filled with tension, chatter, and some fiery moments, and it wasn’t all one-sided.
“It was good fun,” Brook said. “We watched the Indians go hard at Creeps (Zak Crawley) and Ducky (Ben Duckett). We had a conversation, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to not be the nice guys that we have been in the past three years.”
The shift was triggered after Crawley, on the third evening, cleverly used delaying tactics to avoid facing a tricky over under fading light. Shubman Gill protested instantly, accusing Crawley of time-wasting. But Crawley didn’t back down. Instead, he pointed the finger right back, reminding Gill of his own time-wasting earlier in the match. The moment lit a fire under both sides, and the atmosphere only got spicier from there.
Brook said head coach Brendon McCullum had already suggested before the Test that England were “too nice” and needed to show more edge. That message stuck.
“He actually said a few days before that we are too nice sometimes,” Brook said. “And I brought it up the night before the last day: ‘Baz said the other day we’re too nice, I think tomorrow is a perfect opportunity to really get stuck into them.'”
The result was a high-intensity day where England’s fielders swarmed around the Indian batters with energy, voice, and purpose. It wasn’t crude sledging or personal abuse, Brook insisted, but it was designed to apply pressure.
“We weren’t being personal, we weren’t being nasty, we were just putting them under more pressure,” he said. “It was within the spirit of the game. We weren’t going out there effing and jeffing at them, and being nasty people. We were just going about it in the right manner.”
England looked more unified and intense than ever at Lord’s, especially on that final day when they hunted for wickets with relentless energy.
“I’ve had a lot of compliments,” Brook added. “Everybody said it was awesome to watch and it looked like there was 11 versus two when we were fielding. It was good fun, I have to admit, it was tiring but it made fielding a lot more enjoyable.”
India, for their part, gave back as much as they got. The Lord’s Test was full of fiery exchanges, from Pant’s animated appeals to Bumrah’s glares and verbal responses. But for England, the crowd reaction to their feisty approach may have been just as important as the result. Brook believes the engagement from the stands gave the players a huge boost.
“We bowled really well and got the wickets in the end,” he said. “But it certainly had an effect on the atmosphere, the crowd.”
ALSO READ:
Brydon Carse, who delivered a crucial spell at Lord’s to swing the match England’s way, echoed Brook’s views. Speaking between Tests, he admitted that England had discussed the perception of being too nice and agreed it was time to stop letting opposition teams dictate the tone.
“There’s a lot of times when you play against sides as an opposition and they get stuck into us and we kind of sit back and don’t get involved too much,” Carse said. “Moving forwards it will certainly be something that we remember as a group going into an away Ashes tour. We will definitely not take a backwards step to the Aussies.”
With the series on the line and India needing a win to stay alive, the Manchester Test is expected to be just as intense. And with an Ashes tour looming later this year, this new attitude may not be short-lived.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
