England have been witnessing a surge in form in the white-ball format. Harry Brook’s captaincy has been impressive in the ODI and T20I series at home against India and Sri Lanka. The 27-year-old also led the Three Lions to the top of the T20I rankings recently.

His next big challenge will be the tri-series that’s being played in Pakistan with Sri Lanka as the third side.

England will start their campaign on Tuesday when they take on the hosts in their opening game in Rawalpindi.

Former England pacer Chris Woakes said that Brook can be the key for the side to win their second ODI World Cup. He also added that the batter has all the potential in the world to be rated as the best. The 37-year-old was in the side when the English side won the World Cup title in 2019.

Speaking to Cricinfo, he said, “Brendon McCullum will be looking at this World Cup as a chance for the team to win the tournament and rightly so. Winning the World Cup is massive, and if you look at the England side, they have some huge players, led by Brook, who I think will be England’s best batter, and he is that good.”

The former seamer added, “England have got the bowling attack to win the World Cup. Archer is there. They also have Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, and Jamie Overton.

Even in terms of spin, they have options, which is a good thing. Adil Rashid is still going strong and doing well and will have a huge role to play. The team does seem to have all the bases covered.”

In 2019, John Morgan was the captain when England won the ODI World Cup for the first time. The final saw an exciting contest against the Kiwis, with the hosts winning in Super Over thanks to a better boundary count.

Harry Brook’s ODI numbers

The right-handed batter made his fifty-over debut in early 2023 against South Africa. Since then, he has played 44 matches, scoring 1530 runs with three centuries and eight fifties, at an average of 38 and a strike rate of 104.