England 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, often end in something more traumatic still. Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan, and Andrew Flintoff all came down with depression. Andrew Strauss’s schism with Kevin Pietersen split English cricket, as did Pietersen’s row with Peter Moores.
Alastair Cook has been leading England for four years now, and 55 consecutive Tests. Which is already more than any other English captain, before you add in the two he played as a stand-in for Strauss in Bangladesh in 2010. His longevity alone means people would likely be thinking about whether and when he will call it quits. Then, in an interview with the Cricketer this year, Cook said: “Deep down I don’t know how much longer I am going to carry on. It could be two months, it could be a year. I do look forward to the day when hopefully I can play a Test match as just a batter, there’s no doubt about that.”
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