The England captain is exiting with all the unhurried deliberation of a great cricketer who has been an understated marvel of the sporting age. It is all a little mannered, don’t you think?Alastair Cook must go! Alastair Cook might go. Alastair Cook could conceivably go. Providing, you know, he’s OK with it. In the buildup to the final Test against India in Chennai Cook announced that no decision would be made “in the heat of the moment” on his future as England’s Test captain. No shit, Sherlock. This has been the mission statement throughout, an England era forged in the ice of the late Flower years, where all decisions were made in the cool of the moment, bowling dry, captaining...
Unlike the long-term England captains before him, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain, the incumbent has the chance to leave his post before he falls out of love with cricketEngland are bad at endings. The last Englishman to win his final series as captain was Keith Fletcher, who led his side to victory over Sri Lanka in a one‑off Test in Colombo and was promptly sacked by Peter May. It doesn’t have to be that way. Imran Khan’s Pakistan won his last series as skipper, so did Mark Taylor’s Australia, and Anil Kumble’s India. But it seems the best ending an English captain can hope for is a defeat, and that their careers, like those of our more disreputable politicians,...
After toiling for two sessions in the field and then being dismissed cheaply Alastair Cook may be wondering quite how long he wants to carry on having days like these as England captainAlastair Cook has soaked up some tough days during his record 57 Tests as England captain but Monday in Mohali – which ended with him out for 12, his opening partner unable to bat, his side four down and 56 runs adrift with hopes of a series win close to blown – was quite some challenge to his fortitude.The day had begun with an air of optimism, too. At the start of play England were still 12 runs ahead in the match and while Ravi Ashwin and Ravi...
The 19-year-old opener compiled an unbeaten half-century on debut but it was the manner in which he did it that suggested Cook’s latest opening partner might be here to stayAlastair Cook described Haseeb Hameed as unflappable when announcing the 19-year-old’s Test debut would come in Rajkot but it is pretty safe to assume he did not envisage his new opening partner to be the type that launches straight sixes early on in potentially perilous situations.But just six overs into England’s second innings on the fourth day, with a session to negotiate and a lead of 49 to bolster, the right-hander decided the aerial route represented a viable response to the left-arm spin of Ravi Jadeja and duly danced down the...
The visit of Alastair Cook’s team has saved Bangladesh from isolation and the captain Mushfiqur Rahim believes they will soon be beating all the big sidesAs Bangladesh toast their greatest win it is worth just for a moment pondering two things: first, how far they have come since England, the vanquished, last toured these parts in 2010 and then what might have happened had they not come this time.“They’ve obviously taken big strides,” Alastair Cook said, with a healthy dose of understatement. In 2010 the fact that Cook was captaining England said a bit about the opposition. Andrew Strauss was resting up and England still won both Tests, batting big on flat tracks, with ease – by 181 runs and...