Bumble's Blog: Alastair Cook resignation, Valentine's Day surprises and a trip to Blackpool
Wednesday 8 February 2017 13:22, UK
David Lloyd has his say on Alastair Cook's resignation as England Test skipper, takes a trip to Blackpool and talks Valentine's Day...
You could see Cook's decision coming.
Four-and-a-half years is a very good shelf life for any captain, and you could see it in his eyes towards the end in India, he was running on empty.
His legacy as skipper will be his toughness. It goes with the territory that you've got to make unpopular decisions, and Cook never shied away from that, yet it was clear that the team played for him.
He deserves to celebrate his achievements in the job - as well as some brilliant individual moments - there's the Ashes wins, though the greatest, for me, would be winning in India in 2012.
But the results have not been great recently, so it's time to change. He needs to re-energise himself, the team too.
I feel certain it will be Joe Root who replaces him, and Cook can now spend some more time on the farm, with the family, and just get on with the business of opening the batting without everything else that goes with the captaincy.
I've been busy this last week filming our 'Summer of Cricket' promo for Sky Sports, in the north. I said, we've not thought this through, we should be doing this in Barbados, but we ended up in Blackpool!
At one point I thought we were at the Eiffel Tower, but it turned out to be Blackpool Tower. All very baffling.
I also followed Accrington Stanley on their FA Cup trip to Middlesbrough. We had a fantastic day - the chairman, Steve Gibson, and his team, were wonderful with us; great hospitality.
The team gave a great account of themselves. We could easily have won the game, but its back to the league now, we've got to start climbing that table.
While in the Premier League, Chelsea look like they've got it sewn up - they're so well organised, and the thing you need always, is pace. The sad one, for me though, is Leicester.
In team sports, sometimes a malaise creeps in - you don't know where it comes from, but it's desperately difficult to get rid of. They look like they're feeling sorry for themselves at the moment, and they're in real trouble, in freefall.
Coming up, it's Valentine's Day. I said to Mrs Lloyd the other night that her admirer is going to buy something practical for her this year - a packet of Elastoplast, we've run out.
I thought it was quite thoughtful - the ladies have always got an Elastoplast on their heel, because their shoes rub - but for some reason she walked out of the room. I can't think why.
Then at the end of the month, I'm heading out to the West Indies after a lovely bit of time off - I've not uttered a word since September, and I think Sky are preparing to unveil me as their star-signing new commentator!
England tried their best to stay with India toward the end of their recent tour, scoring 350 a couple of times in the ODIs, but the most alarming thing for me about the whole winter, red ball and white ball, were the batting collapses.
They had the rough end of a couple of decisions - DRS in T20s should not even be up for debate, it should have been uniform in all cricket a long time ago - but there's no excuse for losing eight for eight like they did in the last T20I. It was like Wink Martindale's Deck of Cards - now there's a corker of a song for you.
Having said all that, England have got a bunch of talented lads in their line-up, and a few of them are sure to disappear in the IPL auction later this month.
I have a big mate who runs the Sunrisers out there, Tom Moody. 'Mentor' is the job you want, although I'm still waiting for the phone call. Tell Tom, I've no specific skills, but I do have a bank account!
Out of the England boys, personally, I'd be looking at Sam Billings, Jonny Bairstow - there'd be good value in the two of them, I reckon - and then obviously there's Ben Stokes, but he'll cost a fair whack. Eoin Morgan too is a very experienced IPL operator now.
Going really off-piste, a lad who is not even in the auction, but you could snap up for next to nothing is Lancashire's Jordan Clark! He hits a cricket ball a country mile, bowls intelligently and would be ideally suited to the environment, the pitches, and conditions in the IPL.
Talking of Lancs, they caused a bit of a stir recently with the signings of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dane Vilas for the 2017 season.
My view is you can sign as many overseas or Kolpak players as you like, but within the team that is selected you should have to play at least eight England-qualified players.
He's 42, but they obviously think Chanderpaul is still good enough. At this rate, I've got a sneaky feeling my mate Paul Allott might even be angling for a game himself!
Lancashire are the market leader too in terms of bizarre play stoppages in cricket, which popped into my head again this week when bees disrupted play in South Africa.
It has happened before. I think it was in Galle, I was on commentary at the time. But at Old Trafford they've had noise, and the sun, stop play before. The sun was obviously just far too bright!
Finally, we've now entered into the Year of the Rooster, apparently, after Chinese New Year. My mate, Dave Roberts - the old England physio - is called Rooster. I must remember to congratulate him.
I was born in the Year of the Pig. I'm very happy with that as I like a pig. Though I couldn't eat a whole one.
