ALASTAIR COOK : TIME TO GO !

Once again, the England cricket team have succumbed to an embarrassing defeat, absolutely unable to compete with India with bat, ball or in the field. Despite scoring a seemingly impressive 477 in their first innings in the final test match in Chennai, they still contrived to lose by an innings - quite an achievement.

The British media tells us, repeatedly, that we have lots of great cricketers. Rightly, they say that Alastair Cook and Joe Root are 2 fine batsmen and Jimmy Anderson is one of the world's best bowlers; in other players such as Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad there are very good international players. Sadly, as a whole, they fall well short of top class.

The media also carries regular stories about Cook's captaincy, generally telling us what a great captain he is. This bit is utter rubbish. Given the array of talent at his disposal, Cook's record as captain really should be rather better than it is; as things are, it's nothing like as good as the records of numerous former captains, including Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Mike Brearley, and Peter May, all of whom won close to 50%, or more, of the matches for which they were in charge.

Admittedly Cook's record is not as dire as some. He's won 22 out of 59 games, 37%, while the much vaunted David Gower won only 5 out of 32 and Mike Atherton only 13 out of 54. Others such as Ted Dexter and Graham Gooch also managed poorer records, while Nasser Hussain's was virtually identical to Cook's.

Measured by matches lost, Cook also compares poorly with the best.  23 lost out of 59 games played looks pretty sick alongside Mike Brearley's 4 out 31, Ray Illingworth's 5 out of 31 and even Ted Dexter's 7 out of 30. Several others, May, Hussain, Gooch and Dexter among them, also come out better than Cook. Indeed, the worst records are those of David Gower, who lost a staggering 18 out of 32 matches, followed by Cook and Atherton, who lost 21 out of 54.

Looking at the win / lose ratio for these captains shows Mike Brearley way out ahead of the rest, with Cook, Gooch, Atherton and Gower bringing up the rear. Brearley was a captain who batted, while the best of the rest learnt their trade by coming through the ranks in their respective county sides. The poorest, by some distance, are Atherton and Gower, both now acclaimed for their punditry, though one would have to question why. These became captain as a result of being perceived to be the best batsman in their team, although their leadership credentials had little to commend them, as is the case with Cook.

How this adds up to Cook being a great captain escapes me. Fine batsman, yes, great captain, not a chance. In fact, his demeanour on the field is hopeless. He meanders around, looking worried and confused; he shows no dynamism and no active leadership. Apparently the team is fully behind him, but I see that as part of the problem; Cook is very much 'one of the boys' and that's no good if you're also the boss.

The only real question that needs to be answered is "Who will replace Alastair Cook ?" The problem is that none of the England squad has any real experience of captaincy; none has been trained as a captain in the County Championship, indeed most have rarely played much cricket outside of the international arena. None really has the look of a true Captain. Joe Root seems to be the designated choice as successor to Cook, but on what basis ? What are his credentials ?

Unless those in charge sort their thinking out, more humiliating defeats look sure to be on the cards.

RECORDS OF ENGLAND CAPTAINS WITH 30 OR MORE MATCHES IN CHARGE; ORDERED BY WIN / LOSE RATIO.


Brearley     - P 31  W 18  L  4   D  9
Illingworth - P 32  W 12  L  5   D 14
Vaughan     - P 51  W 26  L 11  D 14
Strauss        - P 50  W 24  L 11  D 15
May            - P 41  W 20  L 10  D 11
Dexter        - P 30  W   9   L  7   D 14
Hussain      - P 37  W 14   L 11  D 12
Cook          - P 59  W 22   L 23  D 14
Gooch        - P 34  W 10   L 12  D 12
Atherton     - P 54  W 13  L 21  D 20
Gower        - P 32  W   5  L 18   D  9

ENGLAND THRASHED BY INDIA : TIME FOR CHANGE ?

With England licking their wounds after a humiliating innings defeat at the hands of India's rampant Test team, the commentators and pundits are turning their attention to the future of captain Alastair Cook. England got everything wrong in Mumbai - initially team selection but then their batting bowling and fielding was simply nowhere near good enough.

Cook has been captain for some time and questions are now being raised about his desire to continue in the role. Of course, he is a fine batsman and it would be hoped that he would continue to open the batting for a while yet, but the truth is that he never has been much of a captain. Cook shows little energy on the field of play, rather wondering about often with a puzzled look on his face. He has rarely, if ever, appeared to either have the ability or desire to make any effort to galvanise his players and has, instead, been happy to be led by them. Thinking back to the days of Mike Brearley, probably the best England captain of the last 50 years, Cook is, in comparison, immobile, dour and wholly lacking in charisma.

The problem is that there are no obvious successors to Brearley waiting in the wings. When Cook steps down, there's little chance of him being sacked, his replacement will almost certainly be Joe Root. He is, of course, a fine batsman but, at just 26, does he yet have the maturity needed to lead the England team ? Might giving him the added burden of captaincy blunt his worth as a batsman ? In his favour is the fact that he does seem slightly more animated than Cook and, until he's had a go, we won't know the answers. What we can't afford is another case of handing the captaincy to whoever is seen as the best batsman, simply for that reason. Far too often in the past this has been the approach, and it's rarely produced results.

We must also not forget that England's poor performances in India are not simply down to mistakes in selection or any shortcomings in the side's captaincy. Our batsman have failed to cope with India's bowlers and our bowlers have failed to contain India's batsmen. These failings indicate that there are serious issues to be addressed when it comes to developing our young players, though no one shows any signs of understanding what the problems are.

In short, our domestic games are played on flat, unresponsive pitches. Batsmen are rarely tested by the bowlers as wickets are consistent, with regular bounce and little turn; bowlers have little opportunity to exploit these wickets, so restrict themselves to a largely defensive mode of operation. Our counties have few spinners of real quality, but are replete with mediocre seamers. On wickets in countries such as India, we simply aren't equipped to cope.

What we need is a return to uncovered wickets and 3 day county games, meaningful penalties for failing to bowl overs at an acceptable rate and less, rather than more, limited overs matches. Our players need to be able to develop their skills in more challenging environments than is currently allowed by the structure of our domestic cricket.

Sadly, the chance of any of this happening is remote, if not non-existent. We will carry on as we are, and still get thrashed in the sub-Continent.