Unlucky 99: Harry Brook Adds His Name to England’s Unwanted Elite

Harry Brook joined an unwanted club when the England batsman was out for 99 in the first Test against India at his Headingley home ground on Sunday.

It was the 16th instance of an England batsman being dismissed one run shy of a century in the 148-year history of Test cricket and the first since Jonny Bairstow, a Yorkshire team-mate of Brook, suffered the same fate against South Africa at Old Trafford eight years ago.

Brook, however, was only the 14th player in that list, with former England captains MJK Smith and Michael Atherton both twice out for 99 in Tests.

England batsmen out for 99 in Test cricket (player, opposition, venue, year):

Herbert Sutcliffe   v South Africa, Cape Town,      1928

Eddie Payner        v Australia,    Lord's,         1938

Norman Yardley      v South Africa, Trent Bridge,   1947

MJK Smith           v South Africa, Lord's,         1960

MJK Smith           v Pakistan,     Lahore,         1961

Ted Dexter          v Australia,    Brisbane,       1962

Dennis Amiss        v Pakistan,     Karachi,        1973

Geoffrey Boycott    v West Indies,  Port-of-Spain,  1974

Graham Gooch        v Australia,    Melbourne,      1980

Martyn Moxon        v New Zealand,  Auckland,       1988

Michael Atherton    v Australia,    Lord's,         1993

Michael Atherton    v South Africa, Headingley,     1994

Marcus Trescothick  v India,        Ahmedabad,      2001

Kevin Pietersen     v Bangladesh,   Chattogram,     2010

Jonny Bairstow      v South Africa, Old Trafford,   2017

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Harry Brook         v India,        Headingley,     2025