Making_Splinters wrote:rich1uk wrote:without being seen to continue the cook witch-hunt one of the reasons almost everyone was happy to see him continue in tests last year despite his struggles was the lack of viable alternatives as opener
with lyth, lees and robson all making runs here and would obviously need to sustain this, one warm-up game means next to nothing, if they do continue piling on the runs then maybe his spot starts to come under pressure from a batting perspective as well
I think Cook would have to score next to no runs all year before his place is under question. Winter tours of the UAE and South Africa are not really the place to be blooding new batsmen.
Robson is the one under pressure, not Cook.
I would say the Ashes is the main one.
Fails to score and england loses that would put him under severe pressure.
Ashes is sadly the only thing majority of people in this country care about and lets not forget the extra press the ashes gets here.
Cook and ECB would have to show lots of Steel to survive Cook not scoring and losing the ashes next year.
Wouldn't surprise me though if Cook gets dropped/Rested for the UAE series if he fails next summer but get picked on the SA tour.
Of course no one wants to get blooded in away tours but sometimes teams are forced in picking new players on tough away tours.
Picking the team for the final england test will be interesting since essentially england could pick another 11 players in the last South Africa test compared to the first test against NZ if bad form, injuries, young players failing and retirement happen during the 12 months.