Former England captain and commentator Geoffrey Boycott has heaped praise on England white-ball skipper Harry Brook, adding that he has the potential to be like legendary cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara.
Speaking on the ‘Geoffrey Boycott: An Extraordinary Innings’ podcast, the former captain reckoned that Brook has enormous talent with excellent timing and shot-making skills. Interestingly, Brook’s reckless batting skills have frequently drawn criticism.
“I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I’ve seen a lot of players. I haven’t seen anybody with the talent he’s got for a long time. Enormous talent. The timing, the shot playing, he’s tall, big reach, but his thinking is just unbelievable,” Boycott said on the Geoffrey Boycott: An Extraordinary Innings podcast.
“If he wants to carry on playing that way, he’ll have a decent career, but he has the ability, if he could think better, to be in the realms of Lara and Tendulkar. And, whoa, that’s a bit special,” he stated.
“To be up in that stratosphere is huge. There ain’t many above them, except (Don) Bradman, and that’s special. But he plays one-day cricket to every ball. He doesn’t have a look at the ball; he has to bash the first ball. He’ll just keep getting caught at mid-off and mid-on and daft places,” he added.
Later, Boycott also recalled that Brook’s uncle had visited him in 2025 to guide the young batter and make him a better batter. However, Boycott revealed that the batter himself hasn’t come to him until now.
“His uncle came to me last year, and he said, ‘Would you have a word with him?’ Well, he asked me what I thought of him. I told him exactly this. He said, ‘Really?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I said that much ability is rare, special.
“He said, ‘Would you have a word with him?’ I said, ‘It’s not for me to go to him. But if he asked me, of course I’d help. Why would I not? I gave him my number and never heard a word,” Boycott concluded.
