Former England batter Kevin Pietersen has been left shocked at the omission of Harry Brook from the ODI World Cup 2023 squad. Brook, who had a torrid time in the Indian Premier League 2023 with SunRisers Hyderabad has not been named in the probables for the premier tournament but might travel as a reserve.
Pietersen, who returned from his South Africa vacation recently told Sky Sports that he was shocked after receiving the news because he held Brook in high regard.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted that [Brook] cannot make England’s World Cup squad because he is pure quality. I just cannot believe it,” Pietersen told Sky Sports.
“I saw this guy at Headingley two years ago when The Hundred took off and I immediately saw a superstar. I saw someone playing 360, who could hit the same balls over extra-cover or midwicket,” the former batter further said.
After England announced their provisional squad for the ODI World Cup, which also saw Ben Stokes making a U-turn on his ODI retirement announced – Brook said that he had to move on.
“Obviously it’s disappointing but I can’t do anything about it now,” Brook was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
“You’ve just got to move on. I’m trying not to think about it anymore. [Stokes] is one of the best players to ever play cricket, so I can’t really complain, can I?” he had further added.
The batter did well in the final three Test matches of the Ashes series, after copping criticism of being brah in the first two Test matches. Brook was the main reason why England made a winning return in the third Test match at Leeds.
“I feel like I’m playing well at the minute and feel I could potentially add value to the team. [But] there’s always something more you could do,” Brook had said after his ODI World Cup omission.
“Although I’ve played a lot of T20 cricket, I don’t know if I’ve done as well as I have in the past in the last six months, so that might have had an effect,” he had further added.
England Squad
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
