Fast-forward Brook sets tempo in thrilling Ashes curtain-raiser

If there was any doubt as to how Harry Brook would approach his first Test series in Australia, it was dispelled by the second ball he faced. Mitchell Starc's figures were 3 for 10 after his first five overs; naturally, Brook decided to charge the first ball of his sixth, staying leg side of the ball and launching him through extra cover for three.

It was the first of eight times that Brook charged an Australian bowler during his 61-ball innings of 52, the highest individual score of a wild opening day in Perth. Brook's batting is bold and brash - if rarely beautiful - and his full-throttle approach was totally vindicated by the carnage around him. Only two other players even reached 30, and nobody survived as long as he did.

Brook marched out to the middle to be met by chaos: a sold-out crowd, fizzing with adrenaline from Starc's opening spell, and England's best-laid plans in pieces at 39 for 3. Some players would shrink in such circumstances, but Brook saw only opportunity, as if informed by the mantra that a good plan executed violently now is better than a perfect plan next week.

He is a unicorn, maintaining an unprecedented strike rate of 87.48 while averaging close to 60, and has a thick enough skin to ignore the hysterical criticism that greets many of his dismissals. It is impossible to have the counterattacking impact that he so often does without some ugly moments, and Brook has doubled down rather than looking to change his ways.

Take his approach in the final over of the morning session. All received wisdom across nearly 150 years of Test history would suggest taking low-risk options focused solely on reaching the lunch interval unscathed. Brook saw things differently: he twice gave Starc the charge, launching him for four through cover then tucking him away off his hip for a single.

There was no change at the start of the afternoon. Scott Boland beat him with the first ball after lunch, with Brook non-committal on the front foot; to the second, Brook shimmied down the pitch to launch him over wide mid-off for the first - and only - six of the day. It prompted Steven Smith to push a man back to long-off, opening up a gap for a low-risk single.

Or, for that matter, a rasping straight drive off Starc, struck with such timing that the man on the rope had no chance of stopping it. It was the shot of the day, and emblematic of Brook's cricketing intelligence: rather than taking on the vast square boundaries, he hit the majority of his boundaries to the shorter ones in the 'V'.

Australia made a tactical error in failing to test Brook out against the short ball more often, but their bowlers are not the first to be thrown off their plans by the sustained pressure he exerts. His dismissal, gloving Brendan Doggett's bouncer behind while attempting to withdraw from a pull shot, should prompt a change in tack when he next walks out to bat.

"He obviously played that counterattacking role, and whether he tries to premeditate certain shots and walks at bowlers, or just tries to clear that infield and take the game on, we've seen it happen before - and not just against us," Starc said. "You may see some different fields as the series progresses… We might tinker with [our plans] as the series goes on."

Brook's innings may not prove match-defining, but it was further evidence of his ability to change the tempo of a game. Australia have long been wary of him after his impact on the 2023 series, when his four rapid half-centuries included vital contributions in their wins at Headingley and The Oval.

He was asked last month what an Ashes hundred would mean to him after missing out last time, and shrugged off the question. "That's not something I really think about. I want to be a match-winner," Brook said. "If the team is in a little bit of trouble, I want to get us out of it, which so far in my career I've done fairly well." It was a major understatement.

His innings was a stark contrast to Australia's painstakingly defensive approach with the bat, which allowed England's five fast bowlers to settle into spells on a fast, bouncy pitch that could hardly have suited them more. Starc said the day felt as though it was on "fast-forward", and that is Brook's natural tempo.

Brook arrived in Australia for this series braced for the biggest challenge of his career to date and with the chance to prove that he is far more than a flat-track bully. His Test record is exceptional, but built solely on performances in three countries that have lent themselves to heavy run-scoring in recent years: England, New Zealand and Pakistan.

It may only have been a quick 52 in a harum-scarum England innings that lasted 32.5 overs. But this was an early statement, which showed exactly why Brook is the player that Australia will fear most over the next seven weeks.