Harry Brook has decided to put records to the back of his mind after admitting a couple crept into his thinking when falling 11 runs short of a fourth Test century.
Had the 23-year-old got there on day one of the first Test in New Zealand, he would have become the second Englishman to do so in four successive matches – a feat Ken Barrington managed twice in the 1960s.
But despite saying he was aware of this possible slice of history during his seventh Test innings, and also seeing his latest tilt at beating England’s fastest Test century (76 balls) thwarted, Brook was still satisfied at stumps.
He said: “[Brendon McCullum] has mentioned the fastest century and I went for it a couple of times in Pakistan. It was in my head a bit today, but I need to get that out of the back of my mind and concentrate on getting a hundred.