Harry Brook became the first England batter to make a one-day international double century, scored the fastest 200 the format has ever seen, and then watched Sri Lanka chase down 430 with a ball to spare. All of it happened at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Only one part of it will be keeping him awake.
Brook’s 202 from 116 balls, decorated with 21 fours and 10 sixes, carried England to 429 for 4 — their highest ODI total overseas against a Test-playing nation, the first 400-plus score made in Pakistan, and the largest total Sri Lanka have ever conceded. Sri Lanka replied with 430 for 8 in 49.5 overs, the second-highest successful chase in ODI history behind South Africa’s pursuit of 435 in Johannesburg in 2006. Janith Liyanage hit Josh Tongue over long-off for six off the penultimate ball to win it by two wickets.
The fastest 200 there has been
The record Brook took had been standing for barely three weeks. Shubman Gill reached 200 from 117 balls against the West Indies before going on to 223 not out; Brook got there in 114, and the shape of the innings explains how. His fifty came off 42 balls, his hundred off 75, his 150 off 97 and his 200 off 114 — each 50-run block quicker than the last.
He did it with the full inventory: scoops, reverse-scoops, pick-ups over square leg and flat-batted drives back past the bowler. Joe Root (69) helped him add 159, and Will Jacks, promoted up the order, made 66 not out from 30 balls in a stand of 185 that took only 79 deliveries. Tom Banton’s 50 was the fourth England contribution of note. England plundered 156 in the final 10 overs. Eshan Malinga’s 10 overs cost 91.
Along the way Brook passed Ben Stokes’ England record of 182, made against New Zealand at The Oval in 2023, pulling Dilshan Madushanka over square leg for six in the penultimate over. His 31 boundaries and 144 runs scored in fours and sixes are both England ODI records for an innings. His 202 is the highest ODI score by anyone batting outside the top two, beyond Glenn Maxwell’s 201 not out at the 2023 World Cup; the previous best by a No. 4 was Viv Richards’ 189 not out against England at Manchester in 1984. Brook batted through the entire 50 overs and was dismissed off the final ball, caught in the deep off Liyanage. His strike rate was 174.14.
Membership of a two-man club
The numbers matter less than what they stack up to. Brook now owns a Test triple century, an ODI double century and a T20 international hundred. Only Chris Gayle has done that before him.
That combination is the strongest available argument that Brook is the best all-format batter in the world right now, and it is not a claim built on one afternoon. His previous ODI best, 136 from 66 balls, came against the same opposition in Colombo earlier this year — the two highest scores of his ODI career have both been made against Sri Lanka. The 317 in Multan in 2024 remains the defining Test innings of his generation of England batters. There is no format in which he looks like a passenger, and no bowling attack he treats with excessive respect.
The counter-argument is the obvious one: Brook scores heavily when England are already ahead and the pitch is flat. Thursday answered it in part. Rawalpindi was a run-fest, but somebody still had to make 202 of the 429, and nobody else in the match made more than 130.
Runs are not England’s problem
That man was Pavan Rathnayake, whose 130 anchored a chase that began at 24 for 2. Avishka Fernando and Dasun Shanaka each made 97, and Liyanage’s 27-ball 61 not out finished it. Tongue’s 3 for 79 was the only England bowling return that carried any threat; back-to-back wickets in the final over briefly suggested a rescue that never arrived.
England have now lost both of their matches in this tri-series and sit on nought points, with Pakistan on four. Brook’s side came into the game needing a win and could not defend the biggest total they have ever posted away from home. Across both defeats, the batting has produced plenty and the bowling has produced almost nothing.
With the 2027 World Cup in southern Africa now 12 months away, that is the ledger Brook inherits as captain. He has solved the part of the job that involves scoring runs more emphatically than any England batter before him. The other part is still waiting.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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