Alastair Cook: Should England skipper 'go out on high' after Ashes?
Sunday 16 August 2015 14:51, UK
Paul Newman reckons there is a case for Alastair Cook to stand down as England captain after leading his side to a memorable Ashes triumph.
Cook is only the second England skipper to win the urn twice on home soil, after W.G. Grace and Mike Brearley, while he also has a Test-series win in India on his CV.
Daily Mail reporter Newman says quitting now would allow Cook to “go out on a high” but believes the opener will continue in the top job for at least England’s autumn series against Pakistan.
“There is an argument for Cook to go now as few people get to go out on such a high,” Newman told Cricket Writers on TV.
“The great work done by Duncan Fletcher and Andy Flower as coach was spoiled to an extent by 5-0 thrashings in Australia, while Michael Vaughan went in tears as captain and Andrew Strauss went on a low after text-gate.
“Cook's come through such tough times and I think there has been this thought gnawing away in the back of his mind that, win or lose, this could be the right time to go.
I think Cook feels that while this isn't the beginning of the end, he's not sure how long he will go on before going back into the ranks.
“Now, though, there’s not a single person who doesn’t want him to carry on, but he isn’t looking too far ahead of the UAE tour in the autumn.
“I think he feels that while this isn’t the beginning of the end, he’s not sure how long he will go on before going back into the ranks.”
Cook has adopted a more aggressive style of captaincy during The Ashes, with his attacking fields helping his side to thumping wins at Cardiff, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge.
However, Guardian writer Mike Selvey believes England’s improvement is also down to Cook having the respect of his squad – and fixing his batting issues by no longer playing one-day cricket.
“It has been said all along that Cook is a massive influence in the dressing room and I don’t think people appreciate how important that is with the captaincy role,” said Selvey.
“It’s not just about placing fielders and changing your bowlers and he now has the influence that Strauss, Vaughan and Nasser Hussain had - he’s got the job on a string now.
“He’s now also got the team he wants rather than a team he inherited, while I also think not playing one-day cricket [has helped him].
“I never thought he couldn’t be a reasonable one-day player but some of the things he had to do in one-day cricket were alien to him and he lost the ability to leave the ball.
“Now, though, everything is in sync.”
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