Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Ian Chappell has his say


http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/co ... 76553.html

Alastair Cook with a dodgy gesture

https://twitter.com/bbctms/status/601154024281403392

Someone has posted that Nas asked Cook what England would have done if they'd won the toss, and Steely replied 'Er, that's irrelevant'...

Could have been worse.

He could have said "What the **** has it got to do with you?".

Cook goes from Zero to Hero.

This thread should now be confined to the bin. Cook's now wonderful.

hopeforthebest wrote:This thread should now be confined to the bin. Cook's now wonderful.

With the UAE & SA tours coming up I think a temporary suspension my be more appropriate.

Apparently he was going to go after this series. He should go, sort his batting out. This is the time for Root.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Apparently he was going to go after this series. He should go, sort his batting out. This is the time for Root.

Why ? Root is batting like a dream , taking on more of a leadership role as VC : seems happy and confident. Cook seems to have developed his captaincy skills and to be relishing leading a new and mostly young team in an altogether more relaxed manner than he did under the previous coaching setup...and he has just achieved one of his finest triumphs...he should be itching to take on the next - quite tough - challenges in the UAE and SA .

Now it is possible that Cook might feel he's had enough of the added pressures of leadership ; but frankly I doubt it.

And I think throwing the new man into this particular set of tours doesn't sound like a particularly ideal bit of timing. In fact it sounds like a classic case of trying to fix something that isn't broken.

I know you want to clean out the old guard at any cost , Arthur. But I sincerely hope it doesn't happen just yet. because I don't think it would be best for England.

Anyway : England Captain's always resign after playing SA

I wouldn't want Root to have the responsibility yet.

I actually want Cook to stay for now but he still isn't the perfect captain.

Watching the shenanigans in the dressing room Root is still very much one of the lads and enjoying himself. I don't think he has that air of authority any international captain needs.

Cook has just cemented his place as captain for a while longer, despite the criticism (justified and otherwise) of the last 18 months or so.

England's most pressing concerns remain the contributions and consistency of the top 3 and the need for a class spinner - don't they?

An Ashes win does wonders for a Captain. Suddenly Cook is quite highly ranked despite being unable to beat a weak West Indies side away and bungling a series against New Zealand.

Wonder how long the good will will last with series against Pakistan and South Africa on the horizon.

I don't think that Cook has an air of authority by any means. The nearest he gets to that is when he scores important runs...

As against India last year, Cook looks a lot more comfortable as a captain on the field when surfaces are prepared to help Anderson and Broad. Things are simpler then. He looks a better captain with Bayliss to advise him, than he did with Moores and Flower, which is a good thing. Clearly he has earned the right to continue if he wants. But it would be a good time to go. He wouldn't be handing over a side in crisis, as Flower did so calamitously to Moores. And he would have left on a recent high, following two years of bad results.

England would be better served by someone with some degree of accomplishment in communication, and it can't be too much to ask for a more charismatic figurehead than Cook. You can say these don't matter that much, but Cook is giving very little to make up for his lack of a leader's personality. Root is the central figure of the new generation of players who have done most to arrest the trajectory of England's decline over the past two weeks (that is the actual depth of the present feelgood). He's an experienced Test player who has played in every continent and he is a good age for the job. The future should be about this emerging talent.

It's a bit of a shame Taylor hasn't been selected by now as an ally for Root, having captaincy experience, particularly with England A.

Maybe not the time for perspective...