Pakistan v England 2nd Test, Dubai, Oct 22-26

[Aidan11]

There goes Cook with the result of this test match following him into the dressing room.

[hopeforthebest]

Not a surprising dismissal for Cook, he can hardly be in a good frame of mind with that pain. Apparently it seems a groin injury rather than his back.

[meninblue]

Pakistan favorites to win this. Some one from the top 3 needs to last about 3 sessions to save this test or England.

Cook is capable but it's getting someone to stay with him.

Gone now. imo Cook was last hope as imo he is the only England batsman who could play 500+ balls innings and bore the fielding team to death. The rest apart from him and Joe are stroke players, but the runs they score won't matter. They needed someone who could waste deliveries.

[backfootpunch]

Looks like they will be playing golf tomorrow not cricket

[meninblue]

Looks like they will be playing golf tomorrow not cricket

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cook was thinking of stepping down after the Ashes. Any possibility that he will hand over the captaincy if England lose this series?

[Aidan11]

Only about another 130-odd overs to go.


Piece of cake.

[backfootpunch]

Cook was thinking of stepping down after the Ashes. Any possibility that he will hand over the captaincy if England lose this series?

I dont think so

He is the only real option at the moment and is back into form with the bat

[backfootpunch]

Only about another 130-odd overs to go.


Piece of cake.

With Cook gone there is no hope of blocking it out

May as well go for the win

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cook was thinking of stepping down after the Ashes. Any possibility that he will hand over the captaincy if England lose this series?

I dont think so

He is the only real option at the moment and is back into form with the bat

Joe Root is the obvious option. Cook hasn't been a good captain, and his results unimpressive. Still, they might not lose this series.

[Aidan11]

Shame that there's no chance of rain.

We could always try to con the umpire over the light by swapping the batting helmets for miners helmets.

[backfootpunch]

Cook was thinking of stepping down after the Ashes. Any possibility that he will hand over the captaincy if England lose this series?

I dont think so

He is the only real option at the moment and is back into form with the bat

Joe Root is the obvious option. Cook hasn't been a good captain, and his results unimpressive. Still, they might not lose this series.

Giving root the captaincy this early seems like a terrible idea to me

Seems a good way to knock three or four years off his career, let him take over from cook in a few years

We rely on his batting so much making him captain just adds more pressure

He seems to be a bit of a joker as well not sure how he will transfer into being captain

[Aidan11]

The only one who has the experience to replace Cook as captain is Bell and his place in the side looks like it will be under question after this series.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think Root has a good chance of being a more suitable skipper than Cook, joker or not, given how wanting Cook has been regarding having a captain's character. He looks a bit more able under Bayliss than he did with Moores, but I don't see why that shouldn't be a good sign for Joe's development. Root's an experienced Test player, seems ambitious, and is of an age to lead a new generation of England cricketers. Clearly Cook won't be sacked. It's hard to say how bad things will have to be for him to lose the position. But it's possible he'll step down, given the noises he was making in the summer.

[Arthur Crabtree]

It's a shame Taylor hasn't been given the chance to secure a place in the side to be his vc. England could have done to have got some possible alternatives in place, but have been interested in clearing a space around Cook's captaincy. Including in ODIs, until a couple of the selectors insisted. But, the ODI situation isn't where the Test team currently is, so Cook will only go at his own instigation.