Why the Summer of 2015 Is Make or Break for Captain Alastair Cook
When Alastair Cook was applauded off the field after the opening day of the third Test against West Indies in Barbados, he must have felt things were finally on the up.
Although he had just been dismissed in the final over before the close in Bridgetown, England’s captain had finally ended his century drought (stretching back nearly two years) by making 105 in his team's first innings.
His personal success came on the back of a team triumph in the second match of the series, England’s first Test win on the road since they got the better of India in Eden Gardens back in December 2012.
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Move forward just three weeks, however, and Cook’s world doesn't look so rosy right now.
The battling hundred he made ended up being in a losing cause, meaning a drawn series. England had been denied by their hosts in the first Test, then wasted a first-innings advantage in the last fixture to lose by five wickets.
Since returning home from the Caribbean, Cook has seen England’s new director of cricket, his former opening partner Andrew Strauss, decide to axe head coach Peter Moores and dismiss any notion of an international comeback for Kevin Pietersen.
What it all means is the pressure on Cook has been ratcheted up to another level.
He is heading into a huge summer with an interim coach (Paul Farbrace) by his side and with the public once again wondering why Pietersen, England’s leading run-scorer in all competitions, is not going to be making a Test appearance for the foreseeable future, if ever again.
The Daily Mirror ran a back page saying Cook had made an ultimatum to the England and Wales Cricket Board: it was either him or KP.
If that were true, he has received the backing of his employers. But, that support will not be everlasting—England need to win games, starting with the upcoming home series against New Zealand.
When Strauss held his first press conference at Lord’s, the announcement of Joe Root being appointed as England’s new vice-captain was rather overshadowed by all the talk about Pietersen.
Strauss said of Root, per Sky Sports: “He's got outstanding leadership capabilities and we need him to start thinking more as a captain.”
The young Yorkshireman has clearly been earmarked for the job at some stage in his career, but could his time as captain come sooner rather than later?
Sir Ian Botham believes Root should be in charge right now, per the Daily Mirror (h/t Sky Sports):
"It is time for Alastair Cook to move aside and take some of the responsibility for the mistakes that have been made over the last 18 months.
Cook is a fine Test batsman but he is not a captain.
I would give the job to Root and tell him to mould an attacking team with an attacking coach in Gillespie.
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Geoffrey Boycott has also been critical of captain Cook, writing in his column for the Daily Telegraph: “Alastair Cook is a top-class batsman with an excellent record, but his tactical awareness and cricketing nous do not compare with the great England captains.”
The heat is most definitely on, but it’s not like Cook hasn’t been here before.
He fought valiantly to remain in charge of the one-day team, only to be jettisoned with the Cricket World Cup just around the corner.
That decision still rankles with Cook. Even in March he was still smarting, per Nick Hoult of the Daily Telegraph: "The selectors made that decision because they thought it was the best for English cricket. Hindsight has probably proved them wrong, but now it’s very easy to say that."
Then, however, the batsman’s issue in the 50-over format was a lack of runs.
In Test action, his form has not been a problem of late—he averaged 49.66 in the home series against India last summer, then 53.60 against West Indies recently. In his last 13 innings, the Essex left-hander has hit five half-centuries to go with that long-awaited ton in Barbados.
The issue for Cook in Test cricket, though, is not runs—it is about results.
He has won 13 of his 31 Tests in charge, with nine defeats and the same number of draws, per Howstat.com.
However, nine of those victories came in his first 15 matches at the helm, during which time he suffered only one loss, away in India in a series his side would eventually go on to win.
New Zealand will be a tough challenge next, but for England it is just the appetiser ahead of an Ashes series with Australia, the team who humiliated them 5-0 in the winter of 2013/14.
The absence of Pietersen—who has made 23 Test hundreds but hasn't played for England since that Ashes whitewash—undoubtedly makes the hosts weaker.
In a column for ESPN Cricinfo, former Australia captain Ian Chappell wondered if the ECB had picked the right man to side with. He wrote:
"England have obsessed over who should be the new director of cricket and whether they needed a different coach, while avoiding the most important question: can England win the Ashes with Cook as captain?
No, they can't, and if he is been retained as Test captain on the basis of being a likeable person then that's poor reasoning. Like or dislike is a minor matter in captaincy choices.
The dithering over the captaincy will continue to affect England. The appointment of their next coach is a case in point. Will the best candidates want to be involved now with a team that doesn't contain Pietersen and has Cook as its captain?
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Pietersen isn't going to appear in the upcoming Ashes, but he is going to be a talking point throughout. Each time England collapse or when a member of their middle order goes through a lean spell, you know whose name will crop up quickly.
Cook might just be grateful to focus on a game of cricket when he walks out for the toss alongside Kiwi counterpart Brendon McCullum on Thursday.
It will be the first of seven Tests during a huge, make-or-break summer for his leadership. If he is successful, the large, looming shadow of Pietersen that hangs over the team will begin to disappear.
Lose, however, and he could find himself a foot soldier in Root's ranks by the time England travel to South Africa in December.
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