James Anderson believes Harry Brook can become England’s best ever batter, surpassing even new record run-scorer Joe Root.
Brook became the first England man to make a Test triple century for 34 years in the astonishing defeat of Pakistan in Multan.
In the same Test, Root made 262, and in doing so he passed Sir Alastair Cook’s previous England best of 12,472 career runs.
Anderson, England’s greatest ever bowler and leading Test wicket-taker, believes 25-year-old Brook is the ideal blend of Root and another great, Kevin Pietersen.
“He’s on the way to being in the top three that I’ve played with,” Anderson said on his Tailenders podcast. “It’s Root, Pietersen and him. He’s definitely got all the attributes to overtake them.
“He’s just got everything. Without trying to big him up too much because he’s still really early in his Test career, I do think that he’s got the perfect amount of each of those two and that’s what will make him the best that we’ve ever had.”
It is high praise from Anderson, whose haul of 188 Test caps is another England record.
Along with Root and Pietersen, Anderson was also a team-mate of other outstanding England batters like Cook, Alec Stewart, Ian Bell, Michael Vaughan and Graham Thorpe.
Brook has 1,875 runs in 19 Tests and 31 innings. He has a chance to become the fastest Englishman to 2,000 Test runs, beating the 22 matches and 33 innings of the legendary Herbert Sutcliffe in 1928.
Pietersen, perhaps the best three-format batter to ever play for England, had 8,181 runs when his 104-Test career ended in 2014. As a comparison, he had 170 runs fewer than Brook after 19 Tests.
London [UK], : Former cricketer Courtney Winfield-Hill will join the England Women coaching set-up as an assistant coach for the upcoming tour to South Afric
Former cricketer and rugby league player Courtney Winfield-Hill has been named as an assistant coach for England Women’s tour of
Australian-born Courtney Winfield-Hill will join England's coaching team this winter for the tour of South Africa and Women's Ashes down under.Winfield-Hill pla
Sign up to our free sport newsletter for all the latest news on everything from cycling to boxingSign up to our free sport email for all the latest newsSign up