Yorkshire CCC’s Harry Brook backed to take on his first Test with England against New Zealand

In announcing the squad on May 18, Rob Key, the managing director of England men’s cricket, suggested that Brook had been selected as a reserve with Ollie Pope set to bat at No 3, Joe Root at No 4, Jonny Bairstow at No 5 and new captain Ben Stokes at No 6.

But Brook has since put together an even more compelling case for selection by lifting his season’s aggregate for Yorkshire to 1,001 runs from 12 innings at an average of 125.12, including 10 scores of 50-plus, and Gibson feels that he merits a place in the starting line-up.

“Harry is the most in-form batsman in the country at the moment,” said Gibson. “He deserves to make his debut on Thursday.

“Hopefully they’ll put him in the team and let him go and bat and make runs like he’s been making runs for us.

“That would be amazing for him and richly deserved.”

Brook, who made his County Championship debut at Lord’s in 2017, is in the form of his young life and, at the risk of committing cricketing blasphemy, playing better even than Root at present.

A preference hereabouts would be for Brook to slot in at his usual No 5 and for Bairstow to take the place of fellow wicketkeeper/batsman Ben Foakes at No 7; for all his quality with the gloves, Foakes has managed only 132 runs in his last 11 Test innings.

Whether Brook is selected could tell us much about the new regime of Stokes, Key and Test coach Brendon McCullum, a triumvirate that one would expect to be naturally aggressive and unafraid to give youth its head, on paper at least.

Should Brook be overlooked (can a team with one win in 17 Tests really overlook such a player in form?), Brook’s exclusion would presumably be temporary and England’s loss could be Yorkshire’s gain later this week, with Gibson hopeful that Brook would then be released back to play in Friday’s T20 Blast match against Durham at Headingley.

“Hopefully Brooky can make his debut at Lord’s but, if not, then hopefully they’ll let him come back and carry on making runs for us,” he added. “Either way, that would be a win-win for him; he either goes and makes runs for them or he comes back and makes runs for us.

“That’s a communication issue, I guess, with England depending on what happens. Hopefully they’ll release him if he’s not picked for the Test.”

Brook left for Lord’s on Sunday after passing 1,000 runs before the end of May – not quite in the conventional manner, but in Championship and T20 cricket.

Nine Championship innings have brought him eight scores of 50-plus, including three hundreds, and 840 runs at an average of 140, while three T20 innings have produced 161 runs at 80.50, with two half-centuries, and a strike-rate of 175 runs per 100 balls.

Bairstow, his Yorkshire team-mate, was speaking at Lord’s on Monday just days after returning home from the Indian Premier League, where he has been playing for Punjab Kings.

The 32-year-old has been on the road for much of the winter but is looking forward to being part of England’s new journey.

“I don’t want a rest,” said Bairstow. “I’ve never been one for resting when there’s opportunities to play for England.

“It’s extremely special, and that’s always been my goal – to play for England as long as I can.

“Lord’s is a fantastic place to be to start the new journey, and it should be great fun.”

McCullum took training for the first time on Monday assisted by Paul Collingwood and Jon Lewis. Bairstow is looking forward to being part of McCullum’s red-ball revolution.

“Baz is someone I’ve always wanted to work with,” he added.

“He’s someone I’ve played against and grown up watching and was very intrigued by, someone I’ve looked up to in many ways for the way he went about his cricket.

“I’m really excited about the prospect of hopefully working with him for a long period of time.

“The experience he’s got, playing all those games for New Zealand and the coaching experience he’s got, he can bring that to the guys.

“There’s a lot of positivity around the group, first and foremost.”