The missing achievement is a starring role in winning a major series or tournament.
Brook’s magnificent century should have been enough for England to win the fifth Test against India at The Oval last year, only for him to throw away his wicket with victory in sight. He has not made a century in 10 Ashes Tests against Australia and was only a bit-part player as part of the England team that won the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Maybe his moment is approaching. Next summer is a home Ashes, followed by the 50-over World Cup in southern Africa. Brook will be 28 and at the peak of his powers. There is the chance to play a major part in regaining the urn and to become one of the few British athletes to lift a World Cup in any sport.
To do that, he will have to iron out the flaws that have arisen in England’s one-day cricket across the first two matches of the tri-series in Pakistan.
In the opening match, against Pakistan, dropped catches and poor strokes left them well beaten in a contest they could have won.
Against Sri Lanka, England somehow lost from what seemed an impregnable position, their bowling and fielding falling apart amid a growing realisation they were in danger of failing to defend a target of 430.
There was some mitigation. Dew made the ball incredibly slippery, while their attack was weakened by the absence of the rested Jofra Archer and benched Adil Rashid.
Nevertheless, the bowling was awful, particularly Sam Curran, who conceded 103 from nine overs to return the worst figures by an England bowler in an ODI. It was an error by Brook to continue to show faith in the left-armer, while not using the full allocation of 10 overs from either Josh Tongue or Gus Atkinson.
It is one of the first major missteps of Brook’s captaincy career and the sort of performance that shows England still have some way to go to be seen as serious World Cup contenders.
Now, England will have to win their next two matches to reach the tri-series final, to be played on 31 October, exactly 12 months on from Brook’s horror show in Wellington.
England need the sort of turnaround their captain has managed over the past year
