Brook regret after dismissal triggers England's Oval collapse

Harry Brook was "very confident" that England would win when he arrived at The Oval on Monday morning but ended up looking back on his own dismissal with regret after their six-run defeat.

Brook scored a brilliant, swashbuckling 111 off 95 balls in a game-changing fourth-wicket stand with Joe Root on Sunday, taking England to 301 for 3 in pursuit of 374. But he miscued to mid-off while charging down and trying to hit Akash Deep over extra cover for a third consecutive boundary, and his dismissal was the first domino to fall in a collapse of 7 for 66.

"My thought process was just to try and hit as many runs as quick as possible," Brook said at the post-match presentation. "Like I said, the game's done if we need 40 runs with me and Rooty in there; if I get out there [with 40 to win], the game's still done. Obviously, it didn't work. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, and obviously, I wish now that I didn't play that shot and get out."

He told the BBC's Test Match Special: "At the time, I was obviously very confident. If I'd have got a quick 30 off the next two overs, then the game is done. That was my thought process. I always try and take the game on and put them under immense pressure… I wish I was there at the end, but you can't write them things.

"I had no idea that we were going to lose seven wickets for 60 runs. You've got arguably the best Test cricketer in the world out there at the time as well in Rooty, and in the back of my mind, [I thought] I'd try and get as many runs as quickly as possible and the game is done. I had every faith in Rooty that he was going to be there at the end."

But while Brook said he regretted his shot, Ben Stokes sprung to his player's defence and highlighted the wider value of his attacking approach. "Harry got us into that position by playing a particular way, putting the Indian bowlers under immense pressure to take them away from being able to consistently bowl the areas that they wanted to bowl in," he said.

"I'm sure everyone was applauding him when he brought up his hundred in the way that he did. Some of the shots he played were unbelievable. The dismissal and the way that he got out was a shot that we'd seen a lot of him do in that innings, which I'm sure was getting a lot of praise."

Brook had a life early in his innings, picking out Mohammed Siraj at long leg on 19 only for him to tread on the advertising cushion on the boundary rope while steadying himself. "I thought the match was gone," Siraj later said. "Had we got Harry Brook out before lunch, things would have been different. There would have been no fifth day."

Instead, he blitzed a brilliant hundred, doubling down on his attacking approach to reach a 39-ball 50 before shifting down a gear and rotating strike with Root. His second 50 took 52 balls and brought the requirement down into double figures. Despite his dismissal, he had put England on course to complete what would have been the second-highest successful chase in their history.

They were clear favourites as long as Root was at the crease, but he was caught behind for 105 late on the fourth day - looking to steer a Prasidh Krishna outswinger away for a single - before rain intervened. Even then, with 35 runs required and four wickets in hand, Brook said he was sure Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton would see England home.

"I came into the day this morning very confident," he said. "We had two very good players out there at the time, and I just thought we were going to easily see it home. The way that the Indians fought back there and the way that [Mohammed] Siraj bowled especially, I think he deserved every success there.

"We were thinking the bowlers would stiffen up a bit [overnight] and the pitch would be a little bit flatter, but obviously with the overcast conditions - lights on again - it started to zip around a bit. Like I said before, Siraj, he's played five Test matches in a row, bowled 85mph-plus every ball, and he's had a phenomenal series. I respect him a lot for what he's done this series."

Brook was nominated as England's player of the series by India's coach Gautam Gambhir after scoring 481 runs at 53.44 in nine innings, including hundreds at Edgbaston and The Oval and 99 at Headingley. "I've played all right," he said. "I could have won that game yesterday, which is devastating, but I'm just happy to contribute to as many games [as I can]."

He plans to play the full Hundred season as Northern Superchargers captain - starting this week - before leading England into white-ball series against South Africa (home) and Ireland (away). He will then finally get a short break before travelling to New Zealand for a white-ball tour, leading into the main assignments of the winter: the Ashes, then the T20 World Cup.

"My first game is on Thursday, so it's a fairly quick turnaround. We'll see how I get on. It's a completely different ball game. I'll go out there and try and work on a few things and get ready for another long winter ahead. It's going to be awesome. We've got a lot of cricket to be played… There's a lot to look forward to. Hopefully, everybody stays fit and we'll be raring to go."