Rory has recipe to replace Cook
ALEC STEWART says Surrey opener Rory Burns is the natural successor to Alastair Cook once England’s all-time leading runscorer retires from Test cricket at the end of this week’s series finale with India.
Cook announced on Monday he will be calling time on his stellar 12-year international career after playing in England’s final match of the summer at the Oval, his 161st Test.
It will leave a huge gap to fill at the top of the order and yesterday Burns scored 90 in front of England selector James Taylor on day one of Surrey’s County Championship match against Essex at Chelmsford.
It will be difficult to replace a man who has amassed more than 12,000 Test runs and an England-record 32 centuries.
But Burns, whose latest innings saw him pass 1,000 first-class runs for the fifth successive season, appears the leading contender to replace Cook in the Test team.
Former England captain Stewart may not be completely impartial given he is now Surrey’s director of cricket.
Yet his argument in favour of Burns, who has 1,051 County Championship runs at an average of 65 this summer, being picked for England’s first tour of the winter in Sri Lanka is compelling.
“He has scored runs aplenty in Championship cricket for four or five years now, so he has earned the right,” said Stewart. “People will say I am biased but I look at it from a neutral point of view and if he isn’t the replacement then I will have a lot to say.
“He has earned the right to play and then it’s down to him. Can he deal with everything international cricket throws at you? Is his temperament right? I’ll say yes. I’d be very comfortable in recommending him to the selectors if asked and saying he is the right person to step up.
“You are never going to fill the shoes of Cook but Rory could at least have a good run opening the batting home and away so he can bed in and show the qualities he has shown for Surrey.”
At 27, Burns has put in the hard yards at county level and, as Surrey captain, appears to have the temperament to thrive in international cricket.
Surrey team-mate Dean Elgar, who has played 51 Tests for South Africa, thinks so and even believes Burns’ dogged approach at the crease is reminiscent of Cook.
“It is not the worst comparison,” he said. “I don’t see anything that says he can’t make it. He has got a very good head on his shoulders, hence why Surrey made him club captain.
“He has got a very temperament, he’s a relaxed character which you need going into Test cricket, as it is a daunting and tough environment. He has got all good very the attributes. At the moment he can’t go unnoticed, he’s doing all the right things.”
Cook has agreed to continue playing for Essex for three more years after his international retirement.
He has signed a deal that will keep him at Chelmsford until the end of the 2021 season.
Essex captain Ryan ten Doeschate said: “He’s only 33 and a sustained period of cricket and that enjoyment that he still gets from doing well suits him and suits us amazingly well. He has still got a lot of cricket in him. It’s great for us and we’ll be delighted to have him around.”
England, meanwhile, have named an unchanged squad for Cook’s swansong at the Oval, with a fit-again Chris Woakes vying for a place in the XI at the expense of leg-spinner Adil Rashid.