England's World Cup exit: James Vince could replace Eoin Morgan as captain, says Dominic Cork
Sky Sports pundit assesses where England went so wrong down under
Thursday 21 April 2016 16:40, UK
Dominic Cork says England should consider employing James Vince as their one-day captain.
Vince has not played for England at senior level but has starred in the county game for Hampshire as a powerful one-day opener, cracking three tons and 13 fifties in his 80 matches.
And Sky Sports pundit Cork feels the 23-year-old would be capable of skippering his national side if current incumbent Eoin Morgan is relieved of his duties.
“Are England looking at Morgan being captain in four years’ time or even two years’ time for the Champions Trophy? Or are they looking to bring in someone completely different?,” said Cork, in the wake of England’s abject World Cup exit.
“The jury is out for me and I’d like to see someone who isn’t frightened of making different decisions, someone like Vince, who has captained Hampshire and England Lions.
“Why not throw it to him? He hasn’t got any scars and there aren’t really that many senior players any more, when you consider Ian Bell might not be playing much one-day cricket anymore.”
Peter Moores, meanwhile, has revealed his desire to stay on as England coach, despite his team failing to beat a Test-playing nation at the World Cup following Monday’s reverse to Bangladesh.
And Cork thinks the former Lancashire chief should be given longer to stamp his imprint on the England team having returned for a second spell in charge in April 2014.
“I think Moores will still be in control as [ECB Managing Director] Paul Downton has stressed that he thinks they’ve got the right man and that it was always going to be a building period to try and get these younger players more experienced,” added Cork.
“You have to stick with somebody and can’t just blame the coach when we need to have a complete review of our domestic game and go with an IPL-style setup to get the most competitive game we can in this country.”
Cork, who played 32 one-day internationals for England between 1992 and 2002, also had his say on why England’s World Cup campaign turned so sour:
BOWLING
"What are England’s bowlers conceding in the first 10 overs? How many wickets are they taking? People look at averages but that isn't really important – it’s about taking wickets early, bowling yorkers not length and getting the right bowlers on at the right time, so England need to change their mentality.
It’s difficult to say there is no aggression but when you need to, maybe just up that aggression – not verbally but by setting aggressive fields and letting the batsmen know that it’s going to be a barrage of short balls. That comes from the captain but it comes from the bowler as well."
FLEXIBILITY
"We haven’t had the right batting line-up for a long time now. I am Bell fan but when you look at his stats and see he has four hundreds in 160 ODIs, it’s simply not good enough as an opening batsman, so Jos Buttler needs to come up the order, Joe Root needs to come up the order."
"It’s the same with the bowling. Where was James Tredwell? He is someone we’ve relied on for quite some time but suddenly he can’t get a game. England are so rigid when they look at stats and it’s a load of nonsense. Do you think Aaron Finch and Glen Maxwell think about stats?"
BATTING AGGRESSION
"I see players in domestic cricket hitting the ball out of the park but when they get into the international arena they freeze and are frightened to express themselves. It’s not about building a sensible innings with ones and twos, it’s about getting your front leg out of the way and hitting the ball as hard as you can.
You need the balance of having someone who can bat through the innings but you don’t need Bell and James Taylor doing the same thing. You need a bit of flair at the top of the order, mixed in with grit and determination, and then people who can come in late on and hit it."
