Ben Stokes may have retired from international cricket, but he still has his eyes on England cricket and its players. On Tuesday evening in Southampton, as England captain Harry Brook carved out a sensational unbeaten century to help the home team script a crushing 119-run win against Sri Lanka in the first T20I match of the series, Stokes watched it and then rated the T20 star, calling him better than Kevin Pietersen.
Brook, in many ways, is a modern-day Pietersen with his swashbuckling batting ability that can rip into any bowling attack by accessing any part of the ground. The Rose Bowl, on Tuesday, witnessed precisely that as Brook smashed 10 boundaries and half a dozen sixes on his 49-ball unbeaten knock of 114. That included six boundaries in one over off Dunith Wellalage.
This was Brook’s first hundred in 18 international innings in all formats — since the World Cup win against Pakistan in February — and England’s joint second-fastest in T20s. And it was played in front of Pietersen, who recently joined the England white-ball coaching set-up as a mentor, with a contract till the ODI World Cup next year.
Brook’s stunning knock lured Stokes onto social media to say his former teammate is “better” than Pietersen. However, the post in X came in response to Stokes firing back at Brook’s detractors after the England batter met with fierce criticism over not scoring a century in Test cricket in the last 11 matches across more than a year.
Stokes wrote: “I don’t even think the genius of KP could come close to what Harry Brook has talent-wise. Is it really that hard to just sit back and admire these players for what they are, on the good days and the bad days, and stop berating them for doing things that we would never, ever, ever even think of doing because we simply aren’t on their level to think that way?
“You are an absolute freak, Harry. You’re mint to watch,” he added.
Despite admitting that the comment was perhaps “harsh” on Pietersen, Stokes doubled down on his earlier remark. “Bit harsh on KP actually both are freak talents but Brook better IMO is my point,” he said.
Brook’s 114 not out and an 80-run knock from Jos Buttler powered England, to a commanding total of 254-4 after they shared a stand of 128 in just 60 balls.
Sri Lanka were never in the hunt for the big total as the tourists were dismissed for 135, with Sonny Baker, on his Hampshire home ground, taking a miserly 3-12 — the fast bowler’s first wickets in white-ball internationals — in his maximum four overs.
Victory put England, second in the T20 world rankings, 1-0 up in a three-match series.
“An exceptional performance and I am proud of how the boys went about every aspect of the game tonight,” said Brook, who just days earlier was a member of the England Test side that completed a 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan.
“It is not the ideal schedule but we managed to mentally prepare for this game and this series,” said Brook, adding: “I thought the performance tonight was near-perfect.”
