WELLINGTON: Legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting heaped praise on England’s rising batter Harry Brook and termed him the ‘best batter’ in the world currently.
Brook on Wednesday, dethroned compatriot Joe Root to become the top-ranked Test batter, thanks to his eighth Test century, which came in the recently-concluded second Test against New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Ponting, while speaking in the recent episode of the ICC Review, said he ‘loves’ watching Brook play, highlighting the right-handed batter’s ability to excel away from the home conditions.
"He probably is (the best Test batter in the world) right now," Ponting said of Brook.
"He is doing some pretty amazing things and most of them he is doing away from home.
"That's his seventh hundred now away from home out of eight or nine hundreds and it's the way he gets his runs, with class and he gets them quickly under this new regime and I love watching him play."
Earlier this week, Brook received similar words of acknowledgement from veteran English batter Joe Root for prowess against both spin and fast bowling.
"Brooky (Harry Brook) is by far and away the best player in the world at the minute. He can absorb pressure, he can apply it. He can whack you over your head for six. He can scoop you over his head for six. He can smack spin. He can smack seam," Root said.
"He's so hard to bowl to and dovetailed with someone like Pope, who's extremely busy and scoring in awkward areas, [which] makes it very difficult to stop the flow of runs. I think they just played exceptionally well together," he added.
- Ricky Ponting
- Harry Brook
