Out-of-sorts Cook is in danger of tarnishing his rich legacy
Big Three should be viewed. Having been treated as second-class citizens for so long when England and Australia set the sport’s agenda, India have replicated that behavior since taking the administrative throne themselves.
Consider a simple example. In November 2000, India’s players took the short flight across the eastern border to be part of Bangladesh’s inaugural Test. The invitation for Bangladesh to tour India for a Test didn’t go out till earlier this year. This despite the India-Pakistan rivalry being waylaid by political differences, and India-Sri Lanka coming to epitomize viewer fatigue.
Much was made of India, England and Australia trying to carve up the ICC’s financial pie among themselves nearly four years ago. That attempt may have been rebuffed, to an extent, but little can be done to alter itineraries that are increasingly centered around matches between these teams. When it comes to games, South Africa are added to this list of heavy hitters for the simple reason that they have been competitive in most conditions over the past decade. Once they lose the box-office appeal of AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla, it could be a different story.
In the current cycle of matches, scheduled between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, India will end up playing 23 of 46 Tests against England, Australia or South Africa. By the end of the ongoing Ashes, Australia would have contested 17 of 35 games against the other three. The figures for England will be 23 of 43, with a five-Test home series against India to come in the summer of 2018. In the new Future Tours Program that is currently being chalked out and ratified, India will play 19 home Tests between 2019 and 2023. As many as 12 of those will be against England, Australia and South Africa. The away figures are 12 out of 18. The numbers for England and Australia will be similarly skewed.
Much has been made of India’s readiness to host Afghanistan in 2018-19 for their maiden Test. But that will ultimately mean nothing if the seeds of a meaningful and regular rivalry are not sown. “It is with us the prerogative of how many do we play and with who,” said Rahul Johri, the chief executive of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, in a recent interview with ESPNCricinfo. “We are looking at good content for the Indian fans, the cricketers, for the broadcasters, for all the stakeholders. It is our responsibility to ensure the best possible content and context.”
Hopefully, he and his fellow administrators will remember the days when India dined off scraps from the top table, and ensure that they don’t treat Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and other nations where there is immense passion for the game, with the same callous disregard.
Don’t count on it, though. LONDON: Before this Ashes series started, Nathan Lyon made bold predictions about the current crop of Australians “ending the careers” of some English players and getting England captain Joe Root dropped. As the Baggy Greens close in on a series-clinching victory in the third Test, it appears the off-spinner’s pre-match fighting talk was more than prophetic. The soul-searching will undoubtedly have already begun within the England camp as they face the prospect of a third 5-0 whitewash in Australia in a little over a decade.
But contrary to Lyon’s suggestion, the player who should be looking hardest in the mirror is Alastair Cook. The England opener is on his first Ashes tour since relinquishing the burden and pressures of captaincy to Root, which should have given him the freedom to do what he does best: Batting at length and piling on the runs. There is no doubting the former captain’s ability; he is the only English batsman to accrue more than 11,000 Test runs and his 766 runs in the 2010/11 Ashes at an average of 127 was instrumental in England winning the urn Down Under for the first time in a generation.
Instead, this time around Cook has managed just 83 runs in six innings. His latest showing at the WACA, in his 150th Test appearance for his country, was a paltry seven and a shaky 14. He has spent just shy of five hours at the crease to amass his 83 runs at an average of 13.83. Compare that with the 426 runs in just four innings of Australia’s Steve Smith and you have some idea of the shambolic series Cook has had on pitches perfect for batsmen.
There are visible technical frailties on show against this Australian attack too, but the truth is Cook’s form has been on the slide for some time now. Aside from his 243-run knock at Edgbaston in August against a weak West Indies side, he has scored just one century and three half-centuries in 27 innings.
This is not the form of a player who should be leading England’s batting attack in the pressure-cooker intensity of an Ashes series. Or any series for that matter. Root himself has had a poor time of it, but as captain will be forgiven his shortcomings. Cook no longer has that excuse to fall back on and he now looks a shadow of the runmachine he once was. Each time he steps up to the crease it is increasingly obvious the Australian team have his number.
By carrying on beyond this tour, Cook runs the risk of tarnishing his legacy. The idea of him going on too long for England is becoming more and more a nightmarish reality. In an ideal world, Cook would have quit on his terms while he was ahead, on a high note and as a legend of the game. Unfortunately, his end looks like arriving with a whimper at the hands of his greatest cricketing foes.