Cow Corner Blog

Captain Cook lacks no haste

Wed Oct 28 02:36PM

Barely had Andrew Strauss left the interview room after suggesting that he may wish to take a break in Bangladesh, than Alastair Cook began practising his coin-tossing technique and handing the selectors his business card.

England have long been accused of treating every young talented batsman as though they were David Gower minus the plums in the mouth, and a case in point was Cook's hugely premature awarding of the vice-captaincy.

Cook did become the only man to score seven centuries before his 23^rd birthday, but he appears to have been handed a lifetime pass for an opening batting berth despite averaging 24.66 in the 2009 Ashes series.

His penchant for a clichéd soundbite, coupled with the dismal first volume of his autobiography, dazzlingly entitled 'Alastair Cook: Starting Out', make the Gloucester-born batsman appear the ultra-safe pair of hands the ECB would love to have exchanging pleasantries with opposing captains.

After the Kevin Pietersen debacle which managing director Hugh Morris has only just about put him, Cook, nicknamed 'Chef' by his team-mates, represents the Delia Smith to KP's Marco Pierre White.

Sounding as if he were attending an interview for the position of his school's head boy, Cook was quick to re-affirm his credentials for the top job: "I've captained Bedford School, county age-group sides, county seconds and Essex," he said.

Then, adopting the 'too cool for school' approach, Cook managed to sound slightly blasé about the whole thing: "Hypothetically, if it was the case, I'd love to give the captaincy a go, but it's not like I won't be able to sleep at night if it doesn't happen," he assured everyone.

When the Essex batsman travels to South Africa to face one of the best fast-bowling attacks in the world, his much-scrutinised technique will be placed further under the microscope following his second inauspicious showing against Australia - on the 2006/07 tour he averaged a paltry 27.60.

There is no doubt that Cook has an abundance of talent, and he has seen more of the Denis Compton Award than even Mr Sheen, but there must still be reservations as to his ability to succeed Strauss simply on reputation.

After England's Ashes victory this summer, Cook went back to Essex and undertook the arduous task of rectifying certain technical issues with Graham Gooch, such as his back-lift and head positioning.

"I've always had a double back-lift so we changed that, as I don't hold the bat up as much as Goochie used to do when he took guard," he said.

'Goochie' also sported a prodigious moustache, a grill-less white lid and a railway sleeper for a bat, but that does not mean that Cook should have to copy everything the former England skipper did. Except of course if his hair suddenly decides to pack it in.

England lurched from one skipper saviour to another through the nineties, with Mike Atherton thrust into the captaincy at the tender age of 25, before the names of Adam Hollioake, Mark Butcher and just about every other from the Surrey side was bandied about.

But before we get all Bob Willis on the situation, let us remind ourselves that for all his covetousness, Cook is a fine exponent of the nurdle to fine leg, and indeed the tentative back-foot push through extra cover.

For the sake of the 24-year-old at least, national selector Geoff Miller should hold back on handing Cook the reins for the Bangladesh tour. The clamour for the opener's succession from Strauss which would accompany England's inevitable whitewash against such lowly opposition would not be good for anyone.

Cook should bide his time, embrace his new technique and plunder runs against the world's best in South Africa; only then can the captain-in-waiting contemplate the pre-emptive second volume of his story: Captain Cook conquers cricket.

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