'Phenomenal' England hero hailed after saving hosts from second Test disaster vs India

Harry Brook heaped the praise on his accomplice Jamie Smith after their triple century stand saved England in a feast-or-famine tale of six ducks. Smith’s fabulous 80-ball hundred, leading to an unbeaten 184 - the highest-ever score by an England wicketkeeper - and Brook’s 158 rescued them from wipeout in the second Test at Edgbaston.

England were teetering on 84-5 in reply to India’s 587 all out until the Smith-Brook double act piled on 303 in 61 overs for the sixth wicket. Eventually they were bowled out for 407 with six batters failing to score, and India were 244 runs ahead on 64-1 at the close.

Brook said: “The way ‘Smudge’ came out of the blocks and put the pressure back on the bowlers was phenomenal. He is so good to watch from the other end - it feels like he could score four or six from every ball.

“To have him in the side at No.7 is awesome with the depth we’ve got. He has a long England career ahead of him. Hopefully we've clawed ourselves back in the game. I just tried to bat as long as I could.

“I was definitely hungry to make a hundred here after my 99 at Headingley - I’d never been out in the 90s before, even at school.”

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Brook was struggling with cramp when he was beaten by Akash Deep with the second new ball and he admitted: “I was knackered, (cramping up) down my whole right side. I’ve never had it before, not even in India.

“It was probably the death of me in the end. It probably didn’t help that we’d been in the field for two days.”

India were 51 without loss, extending their 180-run lead on first innings, when a rare moment of controversy erupted. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was given out leg before to Josh Tongue, and he signalled for a review after the clocked had ticked down to zero and he should have been timed out.

England skipper Ben Stokes remonstrated with umpires Chris Gaffaney and Sharfuddoula Saikat that Jaiswal was out of time, and thousands of fans booed when the review was allowed to go ahead. But Jaiswal’s call was in vain - he copped three red lights and burned a review in the process.

Brook grinned: “I wasn’t panicking - I thought it was out anyway, I just waited for the three reds.”