Brook has everything to become England's 'best ever', says Anderson

Harry Brook has all the attributes needed to become England's best ever batter after his sensational knock against Pakistan, so says James Anderson.

Brook became the first England batter in 34 years to score a triple-century when his side thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs in their first Test of the three-match series.

In the same Test, Root scored 262, and in doing so he passed Alastair Cook's previous England best of 12,472 career runs, placing him fifth on the all-time list.

Brook's career-best knock of 317 took him to 1,875 runs in 19 Tests and 31 innings ahead of the second encounter in Multan that starts on Monday.

The 25-year-old has a chance to become the fastest Englishman to 2,000 Test runs, beating the 22 matches and 33 innings of Herbert Sutcliffe in 1928.

And Anderson, who is England's all-time leading wicket taker in Test matches, showered praise on Brook, likening him to Kevin Pietersen.

"He's on the way to being in the top three that I've played with," Anderson said on his Tailenders podcast.

"It's Root, Pietersen and him. He's definitely got all the attributes to overtake them.

"He's just got everything. Without trying to big him up too much because he's still really early in his Test career.

"I do think that he's got the perfect amount of each of those two and that's what will make him the best that we've ever had."

Pietersen scored 8,181 runs when his 104-Test career ended in 2014, 170 fewer than Brook has managed after 19 Tests as a comparison.

Our first Test triple centurion for 34 years Brook joins Sandham, Hammond, Hutton, Edrich and Gooch #PAKvENG | #EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/ZMdsKPmb8q

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 10, 2024

England's stunning 823-7 declared was their highest total in Test cricket since 1938 as they took a 1-0 series lead against Pakistan on Friday.

The 556 England conceded in Pakistan’s first innings was the highest total any team had overturned to then go on and earn an innings victory.

Brook and Root shared a partnership of 454, England’s highest of all time for any wicket and the fourth-highest by any Test pair.

"The thing that's really similar between Joe and Harry is that they love batting," said Anderson. "They literally couldn't care less what format it is. They just want to bat.

"They want to have fun doing it. As much as Harry's the younger player and will be learning loads from Rooty, I still think Rooty learns from him as well.

"Joe's one of those sorts of players that wants to keep developing and bettering himself, and he does watch other players and try to add bits to his game.

"I'm sure he's doing that with Harry."