Yorkshire CCC star Harry Brook hits maiden ODI half-century but England lose the one-day series in South Africa

The host broadcaster had alighted on a middle-aged man with bulging biceps and grizzly white beard, roaring his passionate support for the young England batsman as he went about his work at the Mangaung Oval.

They get everywhere, these ‘Yorkies’, and it’s perhaps just as well, for there may not be too many chances to watch Brook outside of the international and franchise circuits in the coming years.

Any doubts that the 23-year-old might not take to one-day international cricket were dispelled in the space of 48 hours, Brook following his debut duck on Friday with an innings of 80 – although England still fell to a five-wicket defeat as South Africa took the series 2-0 with one game to play.

Although Brook’s was not the highest score in England’s 342-7 after they had been sent into bat in initially challenging conditions (that palm belonged to Jos Buttler, the captain, who hit an unbeaten 94), it was yet another superlative performance by the Yorkshire right-hander.

Perhaps the only surprise was that Brook did not go on to three-figures, losing his footing exactly four-fifths of the way up the mountain when he lofted the off-spin of Aiden Markram - that great cricketing palindrome - to deep cover.

Brook will get another opportunity in Wednesday’s final match in Kimberley and, knowing this bloke, he’ll probably seize it.

Few players can have taken to international cricket so readily across the three disciplines, with Brook a man for all seasons, all formats and all pitch conditions.

Of course, there were never really any doubts that he would fail to translate his prodigious gifts into the one-day international arena as he has already done in Test cricket and in international T20.

But it is a measure of the changing face of cricket, the proliferation of T20 tournaments and (vomits into nearest bucket) the emergence of The Hundred, that Brook has had hardly any 50-over cricket en route to the top.

He has played only 15 List A games for Yorkshire and is unlikely to add to that total any time soon, given that 50-over domestic cricket now clashes with The Hundred, with Brook playing for the Headingley-based Northern Superfarters (sorry, Superchargers).

He has certainly come on leaps and bounds since his last one-day appearance for Yorkshire in 2019, as this innings showed in terms of his touch, timing, power and placement. Quick to pick up length and fast on his feet, he is almost impossible to bowl to in this sort of mood; his confidence levels are seemingly sky-high.

The four sixes in his 75-ball innings were typically savage and cleanly struck, with Anrich Nortje swung over backward square-leg, Keshav Maharaj twice pulled, and Wayne Parnell swung for another on-side blow. But what sets Brook apart is his ability to flit between brute force and classic, technically stylish strokes, underpinned by a solid defence that makes him very much the complete package.

Buttler does not have Brook’s competence in the first-class game but few better white-ball batsmen have ever walked the earth.

The skipper helped England to a fine total with an 82-ball innings that contained three sixes after an excellent start by South Africa’s bowlers, helped by residual moisture in the surface.

Jason Roy and Dawid Malan, who made a bucketful of runs on Friday, went cheaply this time, and it was not until Brook took control that the innings gained momentum.

Moeen Ali chipped in with his first ODI half-century since 2017 and Sam Curran with 28 from 17 balls, including three sixes, as England crashed 60 from the last four overs, Nortje the most successful bowler with 2-64.

In reply, South Africa enjoyed an opening stand of 77 between Temba Bavuma, the captain, and Quinton de Kock, the wicketkeeper, the latter having missed the final 35 overs of England’s innings after injuring his thumb.

Bavuma went on to his third ODI hundred before Curran bowled him trying to improvise, Curran celebrating right in the face of the departing batsman – a pathetic sight.

When Rassie van der Dussen fell in the next over, reverse-sweeping Adil Rashid to backward-point, South Africa were 178-3 in the 29th and England had opened up both batting ends.

But solid contributions from Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen and David Miller, who scored 58 not out, consigned England to a fifth successive ODI defeat.