Brad Haddin accused England batter Harry Brook of ‘selling himself and his teammates short’ after his tame dismissal on day one of the second Ashes Test against Australia.
Brook made a skittish 31 before edging Mitchell Starc to Australia captain Steve Smith at second slip.
The dismissal left England 176-4 and forced England skipper Ben Stokes to face up to nemesis Starc just before the dinner break.
Ex-Australia wicketkeeper Haddin was critical of Brook’s extravagant attempted drive, which came after England’s No. 5 missed an attempted scoop shot and was almost stumped.
Brook is ranked number two in the world in Test cricket but Haddin says the 26-year-old must improve his ‘match awareness’ to truly be considered one of the game’s best batters.
‘Mitchell Starc is Australia’s only real attacking option with the ball. The other seamers are all pretty similar,’ Haddin said on TNT Sports.
‘That brings me to Harry Brook’s dismissal. England had the game in total control and we talk about match awareness. He’s gone at a wide one and we say we love the way he plays.
‘But he’s a better player than he’s currently showing. On the match awareness side of things, you need to think about who’s behind you.
‘Ben Stokes has had a horrible time with Starc, there’s half an hour to go until the break and you play a loose shot because “that’s the way I play”.
‘I think he’s selling the team and himself short because that situation you put the captain in is not acceptable when you’ve got the game in your hands.
‘Brook and Root had the Australians there. They went short and it didn’t work and they had to go back to Starc. They didn’t want to bowl Starc, they wanted to save him for the final session.
‘So it’s about understanding those moments in Test matches. If Harry Brook starts doing that we can talk about one of the best in the world but at the moment he’s selling himself short and his team.’
Former England captain Michael Atherton also criticised Brook’s ‘very frustrating dismissal’.
‘Like many batters who play in the way Brook does – Kevin Pietersen, David Gower – they are touched with genius but they are frustrating at the same time,’ he told Sky Sports.
‘That was a very frustrating dismissal. It was a poor shot at a poor time.’
Ex-England wicketkeeper Matt Prior added on Brook: ‘I was pretty unimpressed with the attempted scoop shot.
‘It’s all well and good saying “this is how we play” but this is the Ashes and you need to be accountable.
‘The reason we’re saying this is because Brook is so good, he’s the No. 2 batsman in the world and he’s got much better options than to play a scoop with the keeper up to the stumps.’
Brook scored a fifty in the first innings of the Ashes series before getting a duck in the second as England slipped to an eight-wicket defeat in Perth.
Brendon McCullum’s side failed to pass 175 on a lively Perth pitch but fared better with the bat at the Gabba, reaching 200-4 in the final session of day one.
That represented an encouraging recovery after the visitors slipped to 5-2 after 15 balls of the Test, the brilliant Starc dismissing Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks.
Zak Crawley, who made a pair in the Ashes opener, hit back at Australia with a fluent 76 and found support from England legend Joe Root.
Crawley was caught behind off the bowling of Michael Neser but Root was unbeaten on 68 at the dinner break as he seeks his first century in Australia.
Root contributed just eight runs in England’s eight-wicket defeat in Brisbane but looked back to his best on day of the second Test.
Discussing Root’s innings at the dinner interval, Haddin said: ‘What I enjoyed most about Root’s batting today – and it sounds simple – he hit the ball where it was meant to go.
‘He was in total control when the others tried to make something to happen. He looks determined and in complete control.’
Starc’s third wicket of the second Test took him past Pakistan legend Wasim Akram as the most prolific left-arm bowler in history.
Australia have held the Ashes since winning back the urn in 2018. England have not won a Test never mind a series in Australia since 2011.
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