Adelaide, Dec 15 (IANS) England vice-captain Harry Brook has vowed to improve his shot selection in the remainder of the Ashes after admitting to playing ‘shocking shots’ in the opening two Tests.

Brook, who is on his first Ashes tour, scored 52, 0, 31, and 15 in the first two Tests of the series held in Perth and Brisbane. Speaking to reporters after England were done with their practice session at the Adelaide Oval, Brook said, “It hasn’t been an ideal series. Sometimes, I’ve got to rein it in a little bit: learn when to absorb the pressure a little bit more, and realise when the opportunity arises to put the pressure back on them. I feel like I haven’t done that as well as I usually do. I just haven’t identified those situations well enough.”

“Most of the time when I’ve been overly aggressive is when we’ve lost early wickets and I’ve tried to counter-punch and put them back under pressure. I tried to do that in Perth in the first innings: I played quite nicely and gloved down the leg side.

“I try to read situations as well as possible, and then it all depends on my execution and so far (in this series), my execution hasn’t been as good as it has been at the start of my career,” he added.

Brook revealed he has been inactive on social media and has remained insulated from outside noise during the Ashes. But much of the scrutiny has centred around his dismissals in the two Tests, with Brook conceding he would have been better served by playing differently.

“They were shocking shots. I’ll admit that every day of the week, especially that one in Perth: it was nearly a bouncer and I tried to drive it. It was just bad batting. The one in Brisbane, I’ve tried to hit for six. That’s what I mean when I try to say that I need to rein it in a little bit.

“I can almost just take that and hit it for one and get down the other end. Whoever else is in with me at the other end can just get on strike and just keep trying to rotate. But I’ll be the first person to stand up and say that they were bad shots.

I don’t regret them, but if I was there again, I would try and play it slightly differently. I’ll be thinking about my game and the risks and the options I have before I go out there,” he noted.

–IANS

nr/vi