Northern cricket star smashes a record ‘youngest-ever’ skipper’s century

Harry Brooks celebrating his century against Australia.

Northern cricketing star Harry Brooks this week became the youngest one-day international (ODI) captain for England to score a century, after leading his team to a 46-run win over Australia .

Brooks stunned his critics to hit an unbeaten 110 runs off 94, leading his team to victory and keeping England’s hopes alive in the five-match ODI series against Australia, who lead the series 2-1.

The record-setter, who also plays for Yorkshire and Northern Superchargers, achieved his milestone at the age of 25 years and 215 days. Before that, former England Captain Alastair Cook held the record after scoring a century against Sri Lanka at Lords in 2011, at the age of 26 years and 190 days.

Brooks was highly criticised by cricket fans and former England players after the team’s defeat against Australia in the first two ODI games. Former England Captain Eoin Morgan described Brooks’ captaincy as a ‘baptism of fire’ after their defeat in the first two matches.

But for the young skipper it was third time lucky, and his 156-run partnership with Will Jacks provided a solid foundation for a 304-run chase against the mighty Australia. England were 254-4 and only needed 51 runs from 74 balls when the game was stopped due to rain. They were well ahead of the DLS (Duckworth–Lewis–Stern) par score of 208 when rain arrived.