The 24-year-old England batter will immediately fly home from the tour of India, which starts on Thursday in Hyderabad; ECB statement says that the "Brook family respectfully requests privacy during this time"; Dan Lawrence named as replacement
Monday 22 January 2024 13:18, UK
Harry Brook has returned home from England's Test series in India due to personal reasons.
Surrey's Dan Lawrence has been called up to replace Brook and will join the squad ahead of Thursday's opening Test match in Hyderabad.
Yorkshire right-hander Brook has played in 12 Tests, scoring four centuries, since his debut against South Africa in September 2022.
An ECB statement read: "Harry Brook is set to return home with immediate effect for personal reasons from the England Men's Test tour of India.
"The Brook family respectfully requests privacy during this time. In light of this, the ECB and the family kindly request the media and the public to respect their wish for privacy and refrain from intruding on their private space."
Speaking on Monday, England Test coach Brendon McCullum said there was a chance Brook could return later in the series, with the player making the final decision.
McCullum told reporters: "Obviously our thoughts are with Harry and his family, it's a tough time. It's a privileged position to play cricket for a living but some things are more important than that.
"There's a chance he may return later in the tour but for now we just want him to be with his family and do his thing. We'll just keep talking.
"When he says he might be ready, when that conversation starts to happen, cool. If that doesn't happen then that's OK as well."
Despite missing Brook, England McCullum believes Ben Stokes is ready to go for the opening Tests.
There were fears Stokes would not be fully fit but McCullum said: "I've seen him running around and I think he's good to go. We'll obviously make that call as late as what we need to. But he's put all the work in, and we'll just have to wait and see."
However, England have arrived in India without spinner Shoaib Bashir due to an issue with his visa, a hold up with the paperwork meaning he was left in Abu Dhabi while the rest of the party flew to Hyderabad.
Sky Sports' Nasser Hussain said: "Your first consideration has to be the individual, the duty of care of that individual, and we all must wish Harry and his family well. Cricket is important, and Test cricket is important, but your family and yourself are more important.
"So [for] personal reasons he has headed home. Hopefully everything will be okay. Hopefully he'll come back to India at some stage, it's a long tour. But the first things first, they must make sure that Brook is fine.
"His stats for England since coming in on debut at the Oval have been phenomenal," said Hussain.
"He's averaged 62 at a strike rate of 92, he epitomises how McCullum and Stokes want this side to play. A fabulous player of spin as we saw in Pakistan, so it is a big blow on the eve of such a big Test series."
The spare batter during last summer's Ashes, Lawrence's last Test match appearances came in March 2022 during the West Indies tour.
Hussain says the 26-year-old is a logical replacement for Brook, even though alternatively selectors could have chosen a player already in India from the England Lions squad.
"He was the spare batter last summer in the Ashes so he was the next cab off the rank," said Hussain of Lawrence. "He has played in India, he played on that last tour. He played three Test matches and got 150 I think on that tour.
"He has been playing franchise cricket, he has been out in Big Bash playing that and he had just arrived in Dubai to play in the ILT20.
"The other way of going would have been the lads who are already out there in the Lions. So Josh Bohannon in the middle order, the Lancashire player who has played really well on the tour, and I'm a big fan of Keaton Jennings, both as a batter but also as a catch around the bat when the spinners are on. He's one of the best short legs in the game at the moment. He's in fabulous form. He's an opening batter.
"A like-for-like replacement would have been Bohannon or Lawrence and I think they like Dan Lawrence and like the way he offers them some spin as well. It is a blow for the lads that are on the Lions, they must feel like they're there for a reason and they want to be part of the main squad, but Dan Lawrence is a seriously good cricketer."
The five-Test series starts on Thursday in Hyderabad as England chase a first win in India since 2012.
First Test - January 25-29 (Hyderabad)
Second Test - February 2-6 (Vizag)
Third Test - February 15-19 (Rajkot)
Fourth Test - February 23-27 (Ranchi)
Fifth Test - March 7-11 (Dharamshala)
Ben Stokes (captain), Ollie Pope (vice-captain), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood
