Had no hesitation in signing England contract: Harry Brook

England batter Harry Brook said he had no hesitation in accepting the contract from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Along with Brook, only Joe Root and Mark Wood have signed a three-year deal, while Jofra Archer and white-ball skipper Jos Buttler have accepted a two-year contract. Test captain Ben Stokes, however, has agreed to just a one-year deal, with the hope that the value of central contracts will go up when it is up for renewal next year.

"Straight away, as soon as England called, I was going to sign the contract. I've wanted to play for England all my life," Brook said ahead of the second One-Day International (ODI) against West Indies in Antigua.

Brook has played 45 matches for England since making his Test debut in September 2022 - the most by anyone in his team. Among players who play Tests, Chris Woakes is the second-best at 32. To manage his workload, the selectors could have rested him for one leg of the white-ball series, but Brook is not too fussed about it.

"Obviously England made that decision b,ut I'm happy to be out here t,o be honest," Brook, who scored 71 in the first ODIsaid. 

"It's a different lifestyle. I've been waking up at six o'clock every morning and jumping in the see,a so it's been an enjoyable tour so far."

Brook said he was happy with the way he hit the ball in the first game and hopes to continue learning ODI cricket on the fly. "I liked the way I went about my innings," Brook said, reflecting on his run-a-ball innings.

"I've struggled a little bit in this format at the start of my career. I haven't quite found the tempo of how I wanted to play.

"Until the summer, I hadn't played anything. So yeah, I was just trying to figure out, find my feet in the format really and try to find a tempo with the way I wanted to bat. England have been renowned for being an aggressive side but there's always so much time. The other day was a perfect example of that. It was about nine overs from the end that I got out and I felt like I was sat up on the balcony watching for about three hours."

Brook, who was brought for INR 13.25 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), has been released by the team. But he has put himself up for grabs in the auction. If Brook does get picked, he would have stayed in India for a better part of six months, stretching from October 2023, with the Test series agianst the hosts slated to be played in January-February, 2024.

After a string of slow scores, Brook scored a century against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and at the post-match interview, he said, "glad he could shut them [his critics] up, to be honest," which is something he regrets. However, following many negative things said about him on social media, he prefers to stay away from it.

"I was an idiot and I said a stupid thing in an interview which I regret a little bit," Brook said.

"I'd find myself scrolling Instagram or whatever, and you just come across stuff you just don't want to see, so I thought it was the right idea to get rid of it. I've obviously still got Instagram and Twitter, but thankfully, I've got someone running it for me."

After going down in the first ODI despite putting up 325 on the board, England will hope to level the three-match series agianst West Indies later today (December 6).