Harry Brook wants England to improve in the fitness stakes ahead of the World Cup

England are presently in Australia for a white-ball tour, and Brook is looking forward to the tough challenge.

England’s limited-overs captain Harry Brook is determined to lead his team to success in next year’s World Cup and believes focusing on fitness can be a big help. The English team, which suffered an ignominious 4-1 defeat in the Ashes earlier this year, is presently in Australia for a white-ball tour which starts on November 13 at Perth with a three-ODI series, followed by five T20I games.

Harry Brook recently scored the fastest ODI double century. (REUTERS)

"We want to be one of the fittest and strongest sides in the world, and to do that we can be slightly better and get in the gym a little bit more, do more running and just work generally a lot better on our fitness,” Brook, who against Sri Lanka last month scored the fastest ODI double century off 114 balls, told reporters.

"Our schedule over the next few months and during the (2027 ODI) World Cup is a hefty schedule with a lot of travelling and a lot of games back-to-back. It's going to be a tough tournament.

"Whether you win or lose, you can never guarantee that. You can guarantee that the off-field preparation can be a lot better," he added.

Tough white-ball challenge awaits England

A lot has happened in English cricket over the last few months. Following the Ashes defeat, their performance was investigated, as well as their controversial off-field activities, with some of their players indulging in heavy drinking during the series.

Although they were given a clean chit later, more controversies came to pass during their home Test series against New Zealand in the summer, which they lost 2-1 after winning the first Test. Test captain Ben Stokes later quit international cricket and shortly after Brendon McCullum was sacked as a white-ball coach. Brook, whose team failed to win a single game in an ODI tri-series in Pakistan last month, hopes for a different result than that of the Ashes.

"(This tour) is a completely different format and different group of players.

"Obviously, it would have been nice to win the Ashes, as always, but it's a different challenge (this time) ... and a different squad of (Australian) players we're playing against as well,” he said.

"(A focus on fitness) should always be there as a professional athlete, I believe; it's a non-negotiable. You can never guarantee performance, but you can guarantee fitness and an ability to bounce back a couple of days later.

"We have used (the past few days) as a little bit of a training camp. We haven't really had that as a white-ball group over the past few years with the scheduling,” he added.