'There aren’t too many people sticking their hands up' - Martin Speight endorses former pupil Harry Brook for England captaincy

Harry Brook is rising through the ranks as he captained Northern Superchargers in The Hundred 2024. The team, however, finished fourth in the points table. Brook, who is an integral part of the England team, is one of few players currently from the country to feature in all formats. Subsequently, he is termed as the potential recruit for the white-ball captaincy. 

Brook’s childhood coach, Martin Speight, while acknowledging the potential of his student to lead, also added how he turned a "tubby" Brook into an athletic version of himself. Sedbergh School in Cumbria, brought Speight and England batter together as 6:30 AM practice drills became the norm to shed extra pounds. Having viewed the 25-year-old’s progress closely, the former England cricketer revealed that the batter is not scared of trying out-of-the-box things.

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“Harry does read the game very well and he’s not scared to try things and think outside the box. He has got a really good cricket brain on him and he likes winning. When you look at the white ball situation in this country there aren’t too many people sticking their hands up [for captaincy],” said Speight as quoted by Talk Sport. 

Harry certainly talks really highly about Freddie: Speight

It is worth noting that, Northern Superchargers, where Brook holds the captaincy mantle, has former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff as coach. There are speculations that Flintoff might take the onus of coaching England’s white-ball team with a potential new captain. Drawing the hopeful outcome, Speight termed the Flintoff-and-Brook combination a tailor-made one for England.

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“Harry certainly talks really highly about Freddie and has a great relationship with him. Harry said Freddie’s an amazing guy to have around and I  think he’s probably got a similar sort of aura and approach to the game as (England coach) Brendon McCullum," he continued.

“Harry has very much bought into and been a recipient of the McCullum and Ben Stokes England culture where they back their players. They have created an environment and a changing room where the players feel as though they can play their game - they don’t look scared," Speight concluded.