Alastair Cook is not a good tactician. Mentioned by plenty of journalists earlier in the year, but swept away amidst the glory of a 3-0 series triumph – the realisation is now with us.
With England on the brink of a crushing first Test defeat at the Gabba, the tabloids back home will be circling beneath their leader, ready to attack his poor choice of tactics.
After two quick wickets early on day three, Michael Clarke came to the crease under some duress, especially given his meek first innings dismissal.
Cook immediately pushed two men out for his opposition skipper, gifting Clarke numerous singles which allowed him to settle very quickly.
The reasoning would’ve been twofold: to starve a rampant David Warner of the strike, and to give Stuart Broad a real crack at again exposing Clarke’s perceived weakness of the short ball.
Clarke promptly dispatched two crisp pull shots to the boundary and Cook retreated into his ever-growing shell. Soon there will be enough room in there for the rest of his team.
There was no ‘Plan B’ and the Aussie captain quickly amassed a sparkling hundred to take the game away from England.
Later in the day, after another pair of wickets fell, Cook missed another obvious opportunity to heap the pressure on the new batsman.
George Bailey, who is notably comfortable against off spin, walked to the middle with his Test career on the line.
At this stage England were at long odds to come back and win the match, however another failure from Bailey would’ve surely been a huge psychological blow to the Tasmanian heading into the second Test.
Captain Cook clearly thought otherwise.
He gifted the debutant a single to long on from the very first ball, not to mention the gentle spin of Joe Root in tandem with an ineffective Graeme Swann.
Bailey didn’t set the world alight, however Cook’s defensive mindset meant another opportunity was missed.
In comparison, Michael Clarke has led very well, setting aggressive fields to execute well-educated plans to all the English batsmen.
Jonathan Trott’s second innings dismissal is a prime example. Clarke again had Trott awkwardly dabbing at a short ball, and had a man in the deep to take full advantage.
Many parallels were drawn between the careers of the two captains in the lead up to the series. In terms of statistics, they are very similar.
However, there is no way of quantifying Clarke’s superior tactics. So far this series, Cook has been a distant second, and England will continue to be hampered if his captaincy does not improve.
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