By Graham Hardcastle, Paul Dyson and Jonathan Doidge
Harry Brook can’t wait to tick off a Roses appearance on his cricketing bucket list tomorrow night.
The Yorkshire batsman is set for his first taste of county cricket’s biggest fixture bar none when the Vikings tackle the Lightning at a sold-out Emerald Headingley, starting at 7pm.
Brook, a former England Under 19s captain, was 12th man last season as the Lightning secured the double en-route to Finals Day, where they were beaten in the semi-final by eventual champions Worcestershire.
So he has had a taste of the white hot atmosphere, but just hasn’t been in the thick of it.
Temperatures are set to soar in Leeds tomorrow, and ironically 20-year-old Brook was in a similar climate playing grade cricket in Sydney when he first studied the 2019 fixture list.
“At the start of the year, I was looking at the fixtures and thought, ‘I so hope I’m playing in that game – I’d be gutted if I wasn’t selected’,” he said. “I haven’t played in one yet, only 12th manning.
“The atmosphere in that game is ridiculous. To play against the old enemy, as we call them – the big rivals, and it’s even better if we beat them.
