Brook 'I made a terrible mistake'
Test Match Special
BBC
4.4 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kevin Howells is alongside Jonathan Agnew and Stephan Shemilt to discuss the future of England's leadership team ahead of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka. They question how big the series and the following T20 World Cup is for head coach Brendon McCullum and Harry Brook's off-field conduct.
Plus, England's white-ball skipper speaks to Stephan about how he needs to 'earn the trust' of his team-mates.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommashranganathan. |
| 0:25.9 | However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. |
| 0:30.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:35.1 | You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. |
| 0:41.4 | Hello, I'm Kevin Howells. |
| 0:42.8 | Welcome to the Test Match Special podcast, where England's men are preparing for their white ball series in Sri Lanka before the T20 World Cup, which is now just over two weeks away. |
| 0:53.0 | But as we've sort of got used to in recent weeks with England at the moment, it matters off the field, which are taking the headlines. I'm alongside the BBC's Chief Cricket commentator, Jonathan Agnew, and the Chief Cricket reporter, Stefan Shemmelt. Hello to you both. First to Steph, you're out there in Sri Lanka right now. There's just no stopping this, is there? |
| 1:11.5 | From one country to another. How are you coping? I'm fine. I think, I suppose it gives a little bit of an |
| 1:20.2 | insight, doesn't it, into what the players are up to as well in terms of their winter. |
| 1:25.4 | You know, England started in New Zealand, then onto Australia, |
| 1:28.8 | and now straight into this tour of Sri Lanka that precedes the World Cup. And of course, |
| 1:34.4 | you know, they're young men, their international cricketers, what's not to like about playing |
| 1:38.2 | cricket for England. But there are lots of other things that go with that. And I guess that's |
| 1:42.7 | what we're going to get into today |
| 1:44.2 | with what happened with Harry Brooke in New Zealand and a lot of the off-field stuff that went on |
| 1:50.2 | in Australia and what might change as a result. And as a knock on to that, the changes that are |
| 1:57.6 | enforced, things like curfews and cultures and some on-field things like |
| 2:03.2 | a fielding coach being brought into the England set up, what that might mean as a knock-on |
... |
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