Harry Brook feels Will Jacks growing into fresh role as England beat Sri Lanka

Harry Brook believes Will Jacks is reaping the rewards of embracing a fresh role after the all-rounder helped England draw first blood in their Metro Bank ODI series against Sri Lanka.

An opening batter and part-time spinner by trade in the white-ball formats, Jacks has been shuffled down the order as a finisher and been increasingly relied upon with the ball under Brook’s captaincy.

Jacks showed his adaptability at the T20 World Cup earlier this year, winning four player of the match awards, and excelled with bat and ball in England’s 89-run win on Tuesday at the Banks Homes Riverside.

After England slumped from 181 for three to 211 for seven, Jacks made a crucial 46 not out to get them to a competitive 265 before taking five for 22 from seven overs as Sri Lanka were all out for 176.

“He’s really growing into this role,” Brook said. “He’s just bought into everything that we want to do, as have the other boys.

“We’re talking about all sorts of aspects of the game, trying to adapt to conditions and he’s done that exceptionally well since he’s come back in over the last 18 months.

“He could have easily just moaned and groaned about batting in the middle-order and playing as an all-rounder but he’s really grown into that and accepted that’s going to be his role for a period of time.

“He’s been a very vital player. He’s not a part-timer, he is a very good off-spinner. He’s proven that today. He can spin the ball big and contain batters when we need to.”

Jacks claimed three wickets with his last four deliveries to finish with the second best figures by an England spinner in an ODI, only bettered by Vic Marks’ five for 20 against New Zealand in 1984.

While the margin of England’s 10th successive limited-overs win over Sri Lanka in 2026 appears comprehensive, they had to battle on a slow and low surface at Chester-le-Street.

Brook was the only batter on either side to go past fifty, amassing 67 off 69 balls, while a batting line-up renowned for their power hitting failed to get a single six.

But as they build towards the 50-over World Cup in southern Africa, which is just over a year away, Brook admitted this result could be an important staging post.

“It was a very good win in my eyes,” Brook added. “The wicket wasn’t as good as what you’d expect in England, but we’ve managed to manufacture a win when the conditions probably aren’t in our favour.

“It was hard to score when the ball was hitting the stumps. Those were the conversations we had when we went out to bowl – predominantly try to keep the stumps in play and wait for them to make a mistake.

“I’ve said multiple times we want to be a team that can adapt to conditions, read surfaces well and play accordingly to those conditions and I thought we did exceptionally well.

“We probably knew after the first five overs it wasn’t going to be a 300-plus type of wicket. To scrap away and not be as fluent as what we can be and get to that score was a hell of an effort with the bat.

“The consistency in our lines and lengths and the commitment to what we were trying to do with the ball was outstanding and that’s ended up winning us the game.”