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Boycott is wrong – Alastair Cook needs time

Alastair Cook is the youngest man to score 10,000 Test runs. (AFP PHOTO / GREG WOOD)
Roar Guru
30th December, 2013
14

Geoffrey Boycott is a legend of English cricket, but his comments in The Age yesterday arguing Alastair Cook is not captaincy material should be confined to the rubbish bin where they belong.

Boycott says that Cook isn’t demonstrative enough, doesn’t seem like the type of bloke who can tell anybody off and that he cannot see him having cross words with anybody.

Since when did these traits become the hallmark of a great captain?

And are we forgetting two previous Test series, where Cook led England to victory against Australia at home, and a late-2012 series win against India which was lauded as one of their greatest ever victories?

Cricket captains can yell and shout all they want but if a certain fast bowler has the series of his life (Mitchell Johnson) and their own bowlers don’t perform their roles effectively (Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad et al), there isn’t much they can do.

It takes time to grow into the captaincy role, to build your own style, learn man-management and most importantly, to be an effective communicator.

Cook is into his second year as England’s Test captain – hardly enough time to transform into a master tactician.

Take the example of Stephen Fleming. Thrust into the captaincy at just 23, with only a couple of years of international cricket under his belt, he finished his career as arguably the most astute and successful captain New Zealand has ever had, and many of his peers thought the same (Shane Warne included).

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In his early days, Fleming revealed he felt swearing and raising his voice often would show command and players would react better.

It was only until he had a few more years at the helm did he learn to use this tactic very sparingly, which gleaned more successful results.

He spent more than 10 years as skipper after this initial teething period and earned a reputation as a captain who got the most out of his resources.

Fleming was also criticised for his lack of emotion on the field. As a result of this calm demeanour, he seemed to lack any ability to rally his troups.

But this was his style. Cook is seemingly cut of the same cool, calm and collected cloth, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

Cricket is a game of strategy and tactics; a blanket communication strategy doesn’t always ignite a team the way it might in other sports.

Cook will learn about field placements, trusting his instinct about when to make a bowling change and when the right time to make a declaration is.

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But this is all learnt on the job over many years, not a few series.

The Channel Nine commentary team were incredulous with disbelief over Cook’s decision not to bowl Monty Panesar, their number one spinner, ahead of part-timer Joe Root.

But they are all experienced cricketers, many having captained their countries, and weren’t out there in the heat of battle.

If the England and Wales Cricket Board decide to demote Cook as captain, it will send a signal to the cricketing world they are only short-term focused and are poor leaders themselves.

In the wake of Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann’s departures, it is now even more important for the English cricket team to show stability.

Please, don’t listen to Boycott.

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