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).
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.
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.
Prosenjit majumdar
Guest
Cook by now is labelled a boring,defensive skipper by many.admitting there are logics behind such call, there can be no denying he's got just a decent bowling attack and not a great one..similar to dhoni.both cannot attack too much as many people think they should.
Clark
Guest
Good team indeed. Compton played well over here in NZ a while back. Carberry has got some good starts but will need to hit it big soon.
Johan
Guest
Cook and Flower should stay captain and coach respectively. Boycott was a fine opener but his suggestions should be ignored. The fact is that the team have underperformed and Australia have played well this series particularly Haddin and Johnson who had previously been poor against England. With the series won I will be interested to see Australia perform against the Proteas and in the 2015 Ashes. This Aussie team will need to make five or six changes in the next 2-3 years as they are an old team.
Anthony D'Arcy
Roar Pro
Smith is a great leader, but awful tactician. Seriously, the man practically starts with a deep point, and he's got Steyn/Philander/Morkel in his lineup.
Vas Venkatramani
Roar Guru
Andrew, there is no doubt that Cook can learn from this harrowing tour, and his leadership may improve. The risk though is that while he has been leader, he has shown no inclination to attack and pursue the game. Since 05, England have had two outstanding captains in Vaughan and Strauss that encouraged their bowlers to bowl with attacking fields and sharp body language. With exception to Broad, every England player has looked meek and lacking hunger in this series. It may be the players are tired, and the pressure of back-to-back Ashes series is unprecedented. But bowling Joe Root simply because he turns the ball away from the left handers was simply pathetic captaincy. It said plainly that one, he trusted a part-timer to deliver more than his full-time spinner, and two, it sent a message to the opposition that he did not rate his number 1 spinner. If that isn't brainless captaincy, I don't know what is. It compares well to Ricky Ponting bowling Marcus North in Cardiff 09 in tandem with Hauritz as it would increase the number of overs they had a chance to break through. The other factor that needs to be considered is that the captaincy has decreased Cook's potency as a batsman. And England need Cook the batsman far more than the captain. When I first saw him, I thought this was a guy who had the ability to break any record Tendulkar set in Test cricket. I still hold this belief, but only if he gets rid of the captaincy. Who would replace him? I personally feel the best man to lead the group is Stuart Broad, but modern cricket has this enduring obsession of thinking that bowlers cannot be captains. Not only is he a lion-hearted cricketer that has a bit of mongrel to rattle the opposition, as a bowler, he will have far more tactical acumen than any batsman can. Once this tour is over, this would be my choice as a first XI for England: Cook Compton (return him to where he deservedly belongs) Bell Pietersen Root Prior (w) (needs to return and be supported to the hilt) Stokes Broad (c) Onions (he is a lion hearted bowler that can do a job similar to Siddle) Anderson Panesar With that team, England can still be extremely competitive. The only change I'd make eventually is dropping Panesar if a better spinner comes along.
Clark
Guest
The most crucial point surrounding this is, is there actually anybody in the current England team who would be a better captain than Cook. You need to remember that he has in fact also captained a winning Ashes side.
kombiutedriver
Guest
The English team has 1. A coach that does not have the support of many of the touring squad 2. A captain that is not decisive, tactically inept and has lost the respect of many senior players. 3. A few senior players that aren't happy but feel that they have to consulted on every little captaincy and selection decision. 4. An out of favour group of players in the touring party. All these add up to the implosion that has taken place this Ashes Tour. The selectors need to decide what they have to do when they get home. That may mean 1. Whether to keep Cook as captain or choose a more dynamic leader. 2. The ending of some careers and the selection of some youngsters with some grit. 3. A new coach and replacement of some coaching staff. There is a lot to do and a few different paths England can take. It will be interesting to see what transgresses over the next 12 months.
Don
Roar Rookie
He has won 4 of the 5 test series he has captained. If only our own team and captain had the same record... Yes, I still think Clarke is a better captain. One who hasn't had the quality of team around him that Cook has to provide a similar win loss ratio. Sure, Cook has not handled this series as one would expect, and has been poor and negative too often. But he also hasn't had the support from his senior players by way of their efforts. Swann, Anderson and Prior not performing and KP and Bell being moderate at best has killed off any chance England may have thought they had. They came in with a hope to pepper the Aussies with bounce from a tall pace quartet but only 2 of them played any tests. An amazing back flip to their original plans that still defies belief seemingly only made after an average effort by Tremlett at the Gabba. When Clarke didn't get out hooking the bouncers it looked like the England plans went out the window. We are in a similar position to England when it comes to captaincy. We have Clarke, daylight, then maybe Steve Smith as a contender in a few years. England have Cook, daylight then Ian Bell, who all reports say doesn't want to be captain and doesn't say much within the team. No, Cook should stay and the senior players around him given a smack around the ears / dropped. Coaches Flower and Gooch however should be made to front the board and show cause to retain their positions. Cook looks to have been shouldering all the burden this series and Flower is invisible. Unlike Aus in England earlier this year when Boof was taking a lot of the pressure off Clarke.
Sam
Guest
Time? It doesn't take two test series to work out field placements. He is not a risk taker, which is partly why England have failed.
WoobliesFan
Guest
x2 As an Aussie, I wish they keep him on.
The Sheriff
Guest
Cook is not the problem although his tactics on the last day were way short of what is required. Australia is lucky to have Clark who is the sharpest we have had since Benaud.
brian
Guest
Absolutely people said graeme smith was rubbish after sa lost here in 2006. He turned out ok.
Howzat
Guest
Speaking of Warne - his criticisms of Cook ‘‘negative, boring [and] not very imaginative’’ seem spot on the money lately.
Nudge
Guest
Tactically though Cook is so far off it he needs 10 years on the job though before he might get to a par standard. The Panesar one was so wrong on so many fronts. Bowl your no 1 spinner who's taken 180 test wickets before your part timer with perhaps 3 wickets. And it was like kicking Monty in the guts while he was down. A disgrace. No idea in so many ways about captaincy