Brook's rise up the order to No3 is another Bazball gamble

Yorkshireman’s talent will be tested in new ways when asked to bat first drop in Leeds

- Malik Ouzia

SO, just two Tests into an Ashes series that was preceded by a winter of worry about how eight might go into seven, the answer has become blatantly clear: whittle it down to six.

From struggling to accommodate all their batters, England have now found room for an extra bowler, this morning were set to announce a rejigged team for tomorrow’s must-win Third Test at Headingley that includes a spruced-up attack and, perhaps more intriguingly than any of the changes in personnel, a promotion to No3 for Harry Brook.

There were some during the great Ben Foakes-Jonny Bairstow debate that advocated Brook as opener as a have it-all solution, so solid was the game displayed during his international breakout over the winter. A player of his obvious talent was always likely to find himself climbing the rungs at some point during his Test carer, but Ollie Pope’s dislocated shoulder has accelerated that advance.

To say it has forced England’s hand would be a stretch: Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum might have drafted in Dan Lawrence, the spare batter in the squad, or asked Joe Root to shuffle up the order to occupy a position he has filled for prolonged periods in the past, albeit often reluctantly.