Cook Must Go. NOW! (As test captain)

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think there are three facets.

1. Cook isn't playing well in any format, and quite convincingly didn't deserve his place in the ODI side (and dropping him from the ODI side might help his Test game recover).

2. Cook has been used commercially by the ECB, and also in the way they have tried to justify recent decisions to the supporters,, which has led them to back him beyond a level you'd expect even for a national captain. This has tarnished Cook by association. And made him seem complicit in their decisions (maybe unfairly).

3. Cook has been a poor captain, through decisions on the pitch and the way he has fronted the side off the pitch. Off the field, through his inarticulacy (I know this isn't a fair thing to criticise someone for, but he is the leader of the team) or his inability to withstand the usual pressures of the job by complaining about pretty normal scrutiny. And further, by the conflict he presided over against the visitors last summer.


Chatting as we do on a MB, we try and make our posts worth reading. And that makes me mock Steely in a way that I know lacks sympathy, or even integrity. But that's just style. The actual meaning, I think, is absolutely justified.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not sure if this is relevant or even true, but maybe if you are part of a discussion, people moderate the way they express themselves to take into account of the feeling of those involved. If you are reading it, the conversation evolves without your influence, so it might more easily escape the limits of what you think acceptable.

[#Brown]

Hopefully some will feel it's nice to actually be having this debate rather than just mocking, and essentially just winding each other up.

As for your points AC, I don't think anyone could argue against the first. What I'd question about the second is, what else was he supposed to?

The third is where the real contention lies. I don't think a 'by-the-numbers' and conservative captain is necessarily a bad one - worked for Strauss remarkably well. However, Cook speaks nowhere near as well as his predecessor which is undoubtedly one of his biggest problems. As for the conflict last summer, do you think this was his choosing? Pietersen, who you categorically defend, has done more than his fair share to exacerbate the situation. Should Cook be blamed for this? It's undoubtedly made the job more difficult, to the point his position is borderline untenable. I really don't want it to be, and the only way I see this getting better is by backing Cook.

MS, I think we're going to go round in circles here, even though your argument has changed/is changing substantially. I Agree that he needs to, and hopefully will turn his form around. I just don't think vilification will help this

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think you're asking too little from him. A captain is a key figure in the national team. The 'what else could he do' view seems to draw more attention to the problem.

[Arthur Crabtree]

This thread by intension is a rather hysterical response to Cook's captaincy and batting. While I'm not claiming that the other analysis has been profound, this thread does represent an extreme of the reaction to Cook's travails. And most would probably concede that Cook has had a year that encourages negativity.

[hopeforthebest]

Ideally Cook should have shouldered his share of the Blame for the ashes debacle and resigned with Andy Flower. That failure in its self showed a lack of leadership that a stronger man would have shown.

[Arthur Crabtree]

intention...

[m@tt]

When it comes to personal abuse in cricket, that seems to be reserved for a certain KP. 99% of the time, criticism of Cook has been rational, based on what we've seen before us - both the hard evidence of hismlow scores and team loses, and the softer evidence about his captaincy and the issues with the ECB.

Like most here, I care about English cricket and want us to win. I know that knee jerk changes aren't the way to achieve this. But sometimes required changes are painfully obvious - and that's led to frustrations of many fans on message boards, on the comments sections of online newspapers, on Twitter etc. This thread isn't a knee jerk thread after a couple of low scores, it comes after a horrendous 12 months for English cricket and Cook's poor form extends much further.

Just to quickly address one specific point, #Brown mentioned about Cook's background being a point for abuse. Yes, his public school background has always been a point for light mocking. However it was the ECB themselves who brought it to the forefront with their "right sort of family" comment. It was already clear, but it just made it even more obvious that the ECB had made their choice and results were partly irrelevant. To borrow a phrase from Dobell's excellent 2014 review, "sometimes it seemed losing face was more of a concern that losing games".

[Aidan11]

Cook is still the test captain and he has a chance now to still prove he can do it at this level. Personally I don't but I'm willing to give him a chance. However if he fails then I will be calling for him to be removed as well. Last summer in the SL tests he was dire. Remember the first test? He should have declared much earlier than he did but instead chose to bat on to allow Ballance to get his hundred. Result - time wasted and SL clung on for the draw by the skin of their teeth.

Plenty of supporters were livid. It was best not to talk to Ian Botham for a couple of days while he calmed down. Bob Willis needed a new head to replace the one that exploded. The second test...well we also know what happened there. First test v England. India couldn't believe their luck. Fortunately they imploded by the second test allowing us to win the series.

So in a few months it will be New Zealand. Trounced by Pakistan and we have yet to see how they will fare against SL but judging by the first day of the series it could be interesting.


As I say, we shall see what happens.

[rich1uk]

Cook is still the test captain and he has a chance now to still prove he can do it at this level. Personally I don't but I'm willing to give him a chance. However if he fails then I will be calling for him to be removed as well. Last summer in the SL tests he was dire. Remember the first test? He should have declared much earlier than he did but instead chose to bat on to allow Ballance to get his hundred. Result - time wasted and SL clung on for the draw by the skin of their teeth.

Plenty of supporters were livid. It was best not to talk to Ian Botham for a couple of days while he calmed down. Bob Willis needed a new head to replace the one that exploded. The second test...well we also know what happened there. First test v England. India couldn't believe their luck. Fortunately they imploded by the second test allowing us to win the series.

So in a few months it will be New Zealand. Trounced by Pakistan and we have yet to see how they will fare against SL but judging by the first day of the series it could be interesting.


As I say, we shall see what happens.

WI first

possibility if he had stayed on as ODI captain he might have been rested for the WI series, been some talk that any of the players at the world cup will be left out for that tour, now he should be fresh and raring to go after a 3-4 month break

[Arthur Crabtree]

So in a few months it will be New Zealand. Trounced by Pakistan and we have yet to see how they will fare against SL but judging by the first day of the series it could be interesting.

NZ drew the Tests in Pakistan and won the ODIs.

[Aidan11]

It felt like they were trounced.

[Aidan11]

Might be time to bump this thread.

He can stay as a batsman but as a captain....no thanks.

[Gingerfinch]

Might be time to bump this thread.

He can stay as a batsman but as a captain....no thanks.

As Boycott says, with Strauss in charge, he has a job for life, well almost.

[braveneutral]

I saw the title and thought he had gone gone.