Harry Brook's "favourite hundred" places England in command against New Zealand.

 Having tamed a challenging Wellington pitch and saved England on day one of the second Test, Harry Brook praised a game-changing century against New Zealand as his best yet.

IMG Credit: Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

On a vibrant surface at Basin Reserve, England rounded up for 280 before lowering the Black Cap to 86 for five. The bowlers from both sides delighted in a field day. Over three sessions, 15 wickets overall came at a rate of one every 5.4 overs; Brook was only in dominating with bat in hand. Pushing five fearless sixes and eleven fours, he pounded out 123 runs in just 115 balls.

Though he believes he has never been better, four of the Yorkshireman's eight Test hundreds have been more than this one; including 171 in Christchurch last week and a career-best 317 in Multan two months ago. He walked to the crease and soon afterward had a scoreboard of 26 for three. But he backed them into a corner with a variety of devastating blows that turned the game on its head, staring down a pace attack making the most of useful conditions. He could only be stopped from an ill-judged attempt at a single by a run-out.


"I think that might be my favourite hundred so far; I enjoyed that one a lot," he said at the close. "Most of the balls came out of the middle of the bat; it feels rather unique to be batting like that. Three of us were down when I arrived; the pitch was doing rather a lot. I'm glad I turned on my attacking mode; it was seaming and swinging. I genuinely brought it to them and put a lot of pressure on them. For me, attack was the best form of protection; fortunately, it came off.
With seven away centuries in just 10 outings and a Bradman-esque 91.50 on the road, Brook recently rose to second behind Joe Root in the world batting rankings. The former England captains Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart both scored the same number of tons on their travels, but took 48 and 59 matches respectively, so putting his incredible run of form into perspective.


Advancing down the pitch at Nathan Smith, Brook, who also passed 1,000 runs in 2024, started his counterattack by launching him over extra cover and out of the ground. He said that was a calculated risk meant to disrupt the rhythm of the seamer.

"I doubt you could instinctively run down [the pitch]. That must be premeditated, he said. "They had to try and bowl early on; I felt the moment to run down was then; cash in when it's full. I simply sought to cut them off their length and stop their bowling on the stumps.

The resurgent Ollie Pope, whose 66 was the next-best score of the day by a distance, helped Brook; later, Brydon Carse rammed his good work home. The seamer might have lost heart when he bowled Kane Williamson with a beauty only to be denied by the strictest of no-ball calls. Rather, he charged in even more hard to grab the late wickets of Williamson and Daryl Mitchell as well as a challenging catch off Rachin Ravindra.
"I think the ball after he got the no-ball wicket was 92-93mph. He was fairly angry," said Brook. "Every team needs a player like him; he bowls at 90mph, dives and catches that incredible catch; we saw him come out with the bat and smash his first ball for four too. He is an absolutely wonderful bloke and a great advantage to us.