Cook to bat on despite quitting captaincy
LONDON: “It’s not an obituary, I still will be around,” Alastair Cook said on Tuesday as he vowed to continue his Test career despite resigning as England captain.
Opening batsman Cook stood down as skipper after an England record 59 matches in charge.
But the 32-year- old Essex lefthander, already England’s alltime leading Test run-scorer with 11,057 runs from 140 matches at an average of 46.45, including 30 hundreds, insisted he was far from spent as a player.
“I really hope I am here in four or five years’ time because it means I’ve scored some runs and England are doing well,” Cook told reporters at Lord’s as he gave his first detailed explanation for resigning the captaincy.
“I genuinely love playing cricket,” he said.
“I really enjoyed the challenge of captaincy... I couldn’t give the required level anymore but I can certainly do that to my batting.
“Hopefully, the new guys will let me lead in a slightly different way,” added Cook, a potential mentor to f ledgling England openers Haseeb Hameed and Keaton Jennings, who both made their Test debuts in 2016.
The increasing strain of Cook’s four- and- a-half year spell as fulltime England captain was evident from the fact he managed seven hundreds in his first 11 Tests as skipper, but only five in his last 48.
“It ( resigning) will probably give me a bit more t ime to dedicate to it ( batting),” said Cook, who made a hundred on his Test debut against India in Nagpur in 2006.
For all that Cook oversaw series wins in India ( 2012) and South Africa ( 2016) as well as the 2013 and 2015 home Ashes triumphs, England stuttered last year.
In 2016, England lost eight of their 17 Tests -- including a maiden defeat by Bangladesh.
The year ended in a 4- 0 series loss in India that marked the end for Cook, obdurate and generally well- liked by his team- mates if not always tactically innovative, as England captain.
“It was easy (resigning) because I felt, unfortunately, that I was done,” said Cook.
“I think getting on that plane, leaving India, if I was brutally honest, I would have been very surprised if I captained ( England) again.”
England’s next Test is not until their July 6 clash against South Africa at Lord’s.