Harry Brook Record Breaking Innings Can’t Save England Again

Harry Brook celebrates his century against New Zealand at Bay Oval

In the first ODI played between England and New Zealand on Sunday at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, Harry Brook played a record-breaking innings for his team.

The England captain walked in to bat when his team was struggling at 5 for 3, which soon became 10 for 4.

Zakary Foulkes’ impressive early spell quickly shifted the momentum towards the home side.

Despite Brook’s determined efforts, his partners could not provide support from the other end, and the team’s score slipped to 56 for 6.

But he stood his ground and played the knock of his lifetime, smashing sixes all around the ground and scoring 135 runs off just 101 balls.

He struck 11 sixes and 9 fours, helping England reach a respectable total of 223 runs.

Harry Brooks record breaking innings against New Zealand in first ODI

In his record breaking innings, Brook accomplished several feats and shattered a few records along the way.

He hit the highest number of sixes by an England captain batting at number 5, and his 135 is also the fifth highest score by an England captain batting at number 5 or below.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Harry Brook’s 135 runs accounted for 60.53 percent of England’s total, the highest percentage by any English batter in ODI history.

When compared across all Test playing nations, he ranks sixth for the highest percentage of team runs contributed by a single batter.

Another remarkable fact highlighting Brook’s brilliance is that he is only the third batter in ODI history to score a century when the team was three down for fewer than 10 runs.

The other two players are Pakistan’s former ODI captain Sarfraz Ahmed, who scored 105 runs when Pakistan was three down for just 2 runs against England at Lord’s in 2016.

PlayerTeam Score When Walked Out To BatIndividual ScoreTeamOpponentVenueYear
Sarfaraz Ahmed2/3105PakistanEnglandLord’s2016
Yuvraj Singh5/3103IndiaSouth AfricaHyderabad2006
Harry Brook5/3135EnglandNew ZealandMount Maunganu2025
Andrew Symonds10/3151AustraliaSri LankaSydney2006
Shakib Al Hasan10/3108BangladeshPakistanMultan2008

Yuvraj Singh, who made 103 against South Africa when his team was three down for only 5 runs.

Despite Harry Brook’s record breaking innings, England lost the first ODI against New Zealand due to the brilliant bowling of Zakary Foulkes, who took 4 wickets for just 41 runs.

Moreover, Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 78 off 91 balls guided New Zealand comfortably home in only 36.4 overs.

England vs New Zealand first ODI match summary

TeamTop ScorerRuns (Balls)4s6sTotal / OversExtrasResult
EnglandHarry Brook (C)135 (101)911223 all out / 35.2 overs17 (NB 1, W 13, LB 3)Lost
New ZealandDaryl Mitchell78 (91)*72224/6 / 36.4 overs17 (NB 3, W 12, LB 2)Won by 4 wickets