I like the way he was trying to give the Aussies some sledging! Absolutely dire player. If Ashley Giles gets the top job, we will be like this for a long, long time. Cook is a negative captain and Giles was the most negative bowler in recent English history.
Thank you. I'm glad its not just me that thinks this. I spent an entire afternoon at Trent Bridge watching him bowl left arm over the wicket just to kill a game. A pointless bowler that would struggle to turn a rugby ball on corrugated iron. The games moved on, we need someone GFZ style who is attacking and will bring flare to our game.
I can't believe Giles is even in the running. We lost to Holland and he talks about complacency. A nation that lost 5-0 to Aus in tests and 8-1 in shorter format before being knocked out of the T20 after 3 games. Given these facts, if they are complacent after his team talk then he should be fired on the spot. Imagine Cook and Giles working together - how uninspiring can you get?
Nearly 24 hours after the final and I still haven't got over it yet!! So over the moon that Sri Lanka won the T20 World Cup, especially when we were written off. The only negatives for me with this tournament are that the England men team went out in the way they did, just without even a whimper, and that the England women team failed against the Aussies. That would've made yesterday even better. England should seriously consider trying to get Paul Farbrace into the coaching set up either now or somewhere in the near future. A Yorkshireman who knows how to lead a team to glory.
Yet again a negative, defensive Alistair Cooks refusal to declare earlier means yet another poor result. He needs to grow a pair!
Agreed needs to step back and concentrate on his batting again , we need an attacking skipper maybe Prior.
Agreed and it's a shame that a player who once had such a great reputation is having it tarnished so badly
12 overs to go, 180 runs needed, 4 wickets left He had a 3rd man, orthodox square leg, deep extra cover - why ? All three could have been moved in to catching positions, a deep backwards square and a deep mid wicket for the hoik i can understand, but there was no reason for anyone else to be protecting the boundary at that time. Good batsman, but not a good enough tactician for me
I think the captaincy is effecting the batting as well. Broad for me. Attacking and winds the opposition up. Perfect
Cook should definitely have gone with Giles, was awful watching that. Should have had at least 10 overs at them the night before.
Agree, personally I don't think the opening batsman should be the captain - too tough mentally when things go wrong - you spend all day in the field then go out 20 minutes later and have to lead the team in the batting.
I think it would be impossible for us to have a more insipid, negative captain. And added to that his form has been terrible the last couple of years and he doesn't have the authority to manage Petierson so our best player gets the boot to retain harmony. A deeply, deeply uninspiring man.
And a little like the gnashing of teeth over the World Cup elimination in Brazil, it'll be a knee-jerk reaction. Both English cricket & football teams are beginning new eras with plenty of new players. Give the new blokes and, in Cook's case, the new(ish) captain some time to grow on the international stage. Going back is not the answer. The rugby union side have gone through a similar process and they're now competing against New Zealand in their own back yard!
You know Cook was captain during the 0-5 Ashes series? He's hardly new and this is no knee jerk reaction. The man is very poor tactically, and an uninspiring leader. The worst England captain I can remember who has presided over some truely abysmal and gutless team performances. If he had anything about him he'd realise his limitations and resign.
After a succession of brave, gutsy, risk-taking England captains, Cook is indecisive, insipid and uninspiring. He threw KP to the wolves to escape the whitewash in Australia but there is no escaping this utter disgrace. The fact that Moeen bowled so little in the second innings whilst our quicks were ran into the ground being smashed all over the shop says it all about him. It seems to me that Cook is everything that KP was described as. Selfish, arrogant and only after personal glory and achievements. I miss Strauss and Vaughan.
As a point of balance.. You know Cook captained England to their first test win in India for decades? You know Australia, after trouncing us, went to South Africa (then ranked #1 in the world) and beat them 2-1? You know Cook has scored more test hundreds for England than any other batsman? You know Cook has been first to most of the test match batting milestones (1000, 2000 runs etc) than any player from any country? You do realise he's captaining one of the most inexperinced England sides for eons right after captaining a team which had peaked several years before? Yes, he's limited as a captain. So was Strauss but he had the likes of Flintoff to bail him out. Uninspiring? Is he? Maybe this is good as the side can be right now! We all presume the team could do better but maybe, just maybe, they need time to reach another level. You really need patience with players in test cricket so while the likes of Root, Robson, Moeen et al hopefully grow into fine international players then maybe Cook will begin to grow as a captain too. Also, who would be captain if Cook did resign? There is no one in that side with experience of captaining at county level so we'd be back to square one - an inexperienced skipper learning the ropes alongside an inexperienced side.
Yes Cook was great as a batsman a few years back, but he is poor now. Maybe if he had the captaincy removed he'd find form again who knows. What I do know is this - when the chips are down and Cook has tried to raise his troops, the team have been utterly insipid. Gutless collapses. Flat bowling. And I'd imagine his lack of ability to control personalities and inspire people is why Petierson was given the bullet. And this tactics are utterly dreadful. What was he doing yesterday when Mathews was at the crease? Why not use Ali when he was picked specifically to be the spinner and instead run your quicks into the ground? I'd go as far to say I'd have any other senior memeber of the current set up as captain over Cook. He's simply not up to it. If I had to pick someone I'd go for Bell.
Yes, that is your imagination. Pietersen was waning as a test player, nowhere near as good as he had previously been. He has been a major pain in the backside for every captain he's played under (county, international & the stories from his time in Natal begger belief.) It can be - and was - glossed over when he was scoring runs but once you prove to be little better than the rest then you need to pull in the same direction as everyone else, not try and get your coach (Flowers) sacked. His knee has meant the physical aspect of being a top sportsman would only get worse the more he played. Cook was just one of many who were canvassed regarding Pietersens future - nobody, not one around the squad - wanted him there any longer. I agree with yourself & others regarding Cook's tactics, they're pretty standard. The 1st test against Sri Lanka I thought he was better as he tried differing plans at times for short periods once a stand was building but now, in the 2nd test, he's reverted to type. Personally I think he's been asked to get 20 wickets in a match with a pretty average attack. No quality spinner to cause major problems OR keep the runs down. Broad & Anderson look average at best with the new ball right now. Jordan & Plunkett are a bit hit or miss at the moment. As for inspiring people? While a captain (& coach) should be able to lift you when you're down it is also the resposibility of each player - they're professionals for heavens sake! - they shouldn't really need anyone else to lift them. As for Bell as captain? Sorry, the bloke is similar in personality to Cook. I honestly don't believe he'd be any different and he's not done a lot more than Cook while not being in charge. At the end of the day I'd like to see Cook and the team grow together. Bring in another captain while the new players are trying to find their feet and I don't think you'll see a change in performance. Just opinions, obviously, but personally I'm tired of the hire & fire mentality once any sports team has a few bad results. The players are picked because they're thought to be good enough so give them time to prove it.
"Pietersen was waning as a test player, nowhere near as good as he had previously been." Which player had the best average against Johnson in our 0-5 debacle? "I'm tired of the hire & fire mentality once any sports team has a few bad results. The players are picked because they're thought to be good enough so give them time to prove it. " Cook has had time to prove it. And he hasn't just failed the last year. It's been completely embarrassing. The 0-5 series was indescribably bad. Yesterday against Sri Lanka? Dreadful. Cook has shown absolutely zero indication that he is going to improve at all.
As I mentioned before I'm more concerned about his lack of runs for quite a period of time now. Maybe doing both doesn't work for him didn't work for Botham back in the early eighties. Broad for me or maybe Anderson as he is involved in a lot of discussions.
Stokes had the best average and scored the only century by an Englishman. Pietersen scored, on average, 4.80 more runs per innings than Cook against Australia. Both scored less than 300 in the series, Pietersen a whopping 48 more runs. Not great by either really is it. As for Cook's record as captain? series win v. Bangladesh (away) - standing in for a rested Strauss series win v. India (away) series draw v. New Zealand (away) series win v. New Zealand (home) series win v. Australia (home) series loss v. Australia (away) and most likely a defeat against Sri Lanka this time around. It's not too shabby a record really and after losing to a pretty impressive Aussie side he's now leading a brand new side with very little experience. Yes he's been slow on the uptake at times recently but blimey - new coach, new team - cut him some slack possibly?
