He’s going to be some player – Harry Brook hails ‘exceptional’ Jacob Bethell
Bethell starred with the bat as England thrashed the West Indies in the opening ODI.
Harry Brook believes there is a lot more to come from Jacob Bethell after the young all-rounder helped England to a resounding one-day win over the West Indies at Edgbaston.
Speculation over whether Bethell will return to the Test side against India this summer will only increase after a buccaneering 82 from 53 balls from the 21-year-old in this Metro Bank series opener.
Bethell paced his innings to perfection, going along at a run-a-ball from his first 38 deliveries before upping the ante to lift England to 400 for eight before the Windies folded to 162 all out.
After beginning his tenure as England white-ball captain with a 238-run win which snapped a seven-match losing streak in this format, Brook said of Bethell: “He batted beautifully there.
“When one of us gets going, most of the time it’s hard to stop us and he showed that. He couldn’t go on and get three figures but it was a match-winning innings and he’s going to be some player.
“He’s a confident lad, I don’t think he needs too much more bigging up, he knows he’s a good player and we all know he’s an exceptional player. He’s going to have a very long England career if he keeps on batting the way he does. He brings so much to a side (because) he can bowl and field as well.”
Injury sidelined Barbados-born Bethell for England’s shambolic Champions Trophy campaign earlier this year, while his Indian Premier League commitments meant he missed last week’s Test win over Zimbabwe.
That spared England’s selectors a tricky decision over whether to stick with Bethell at number three after he excelled in New Zealand last December or restore vice-captain Ollie Pope back to first drop.
Pope made a century at Trent Bridge to quieten his critics but Ben Stokes inadvertently fanned the flames on the issue by hinting Bethell would return to the XI for the marquee series against India.
Stokes later clarified Bethell would only come back into the squad for the first of five Tests, starting on June 20 at Headingley, although the youngster revealed he is taking it all in his stride.
Bethell told the BBC’s Test Match Special: “Not a lot has been said to me, to be honest. At the end of the day in Test cricket, those boys have their spots and whatever happens, happens. I’ll just be happy with whatever.”
Bethell put the finishing touches on England’s innings following earlier half-centuries from Ben Duckett (60), Joe Root (57) and Brook (58), while every batter in their top seven passed 35.
A decade on from posting a 400-plus total in ODIs for the first time in Birmingham to kick-start Eoin Morgan’s revival of the limited-overs sides, England posted their highest total in three years and their best against a Test-playing nation since 2019.
Brook said: “It was a pretty exceptional start from the boys. Hopefully we can top that. The tempo we batted with throughout the innings was pretty much spot on.
“I got out with 20 overs to go and I felt like I was sat watching for about three hours. You can give yourself, 10, 15 or 20 balls to get in and then you can soon catch up.”
Brook claimed a record-equalling five catches by an outfielder in an ODI as the Windies were skittled in 26.2 overs, with Saqib Mahmood taking three wickets and Jamie Overton doing likewise despite dislocating his finger in his first over.
England can wrap up the three-match series in Cardiff but Windies head coach Darren Sammy has demanded an improvement from his side as he said: “We were really outplayed – that was just not good enough.”
