BROOK SWAPS SMASHING SIXES FOR HITTING HOMERS

Superstar Harry getting ready for the IPL by testing himself with American baseball team the St Louis Cardinals

- BY DEAN WILSON Cricket Correspondent wW CricketMirror

HARRY BROOK is ready to find out whether swapping six-smashing for home run-hitting will help him live up to his £1.35million price tag in the IPL.

The soon-to-be Hyderabad Sunriser donned the St Louis Cardinals uniform on his way back from New Zealand to try his hand with a baseball bat rather than a cricket bat with mixed results.

But if there is one thing the freewheeling Yorkshireman learned from his time in spring training in Florida, it was to get in the gym and work on his legs. "It was great fun trying out using a baseball bat, but I was hitting into the wind, so I'll get my excuses out of the way," said Brook, 100 days out from the MLB London Series.

"I wasn't far off. I got close but I could have done better.

"The basics are very similar. Having a strong base is one of the things I picked up, for sure. Your rotation of your hips and trying to use them for power and the legs too.