Captain Catastrophe?

By Gary Watton
September 6 2014

While Yorkshire's Joe Root was excelling again for England, on Friday at Headingley, the same could not quite be said of his captain, Alistair Cook. It's true that Cookie did preside belatedly over a one-day international win, and yes his forty-something score was a decent contribution to the team's cause. Although Alistair has provided valuable input to England over the last decade, he is now starting to seriously irritate me.

Oh I know that we've been here before with an under-performing Cook, besieged by pressure from media pundits and armchair critics. Back in the summer of 2010, questions were raised about where the opener's next run would come from. However, after trying our patience once too often, AC finally got himself into gear against Pakistan and then proceeded on the subsequent Ashes tour to give those nice Aussie bowlers an almighty roasting.

Unfortunately it was pretty much a case of deja vu in the summer of 2014 as a series of low scores again cranked up the pressure on the out-of-form Cook, before he slightly stemmed the flow of blood by finally recording a century at Southampton. I still remain far from convinced about Cook's credentials as an opener. It is not enough simply to cite the many past occasions when the captain delivered a considerable innings for his country, because quite frankly the clue is in the word "past." Although Mr Cook may plunder more runs in the future, there remains a very real question as to whether the Essex maestro can hit the heights of consistency from yesteryear. Is Alistair's best cricket behind him, or does he truly have much to offer in future test matches?

However, personal form aside, it is Cook's captaincy shortcomings which is really antagonising me. Not only does he appear much too cautious, but worst of all AC struggled to inspire his team to reverse a dreadful run of setbacks. The time had rightly come when all manner of observers were appealing to Cook to stand down as captain. If only for the sake of his wretched batting form, Alistair should have seen sense and stepped aside, thereby enabling him to concentrate on improving his cricket. This is precisely what Ian Botham did on that fateful day in June 1981 when Beefy had the presence of mind to recognise that he was not thriving as a captain, and that the performance of the team and indeed his own efforts in the team would benefit from a resignation. How right he was!

Similarly, such captains as Nasser Hussain, Andrew Strauss, and Michael Vaughan all possessed the good sense to quit while they were ahead, rather than cling on interminably to the captaincy role. Cook, by contrast, has been behaving like a modern-day King Canute, refusing to accept the reality of the situation. Instead, we are told that it was Alistair's wife, Mrs Cook no less, who urged her husband to Carry On Regardless. I'm afraid that it's all very well invoking the spirit of past times, of standing up to adversity and persevering in the midst of a storm of criticism and pressure. However, Cook's bloody-minded determination to go on, come what may, is frankly becoming a bore. He really ought to relinquish the reins as the one-day captain, as Jon Agnew wisely suggested, so that he can focus his attention on regaining the Ashes next summer. Tragically, unless the spineless ECB intervenes, Alistair will foolishly persist with the folly of trying to juggle too many balls in the air at once.

Of course Cook's current mantra is that he is desperately keen to finally compete in a World Cup tournament. However, his batting is far from dynamic and is not lending itself too well to the aggressive, improvisational arena of limited overs internationals. The plain truth is that Cook is simply not good enough to command a place in the England one-day eleven, let alone actually command the team itself. If AC doesn't grasp that a little sacrifice and compromise can reap greater rewards down the line, then both England's World Cup quest and Ashes aspirations could be sunk by Cook's staggering selfishness.