The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Cook urges tourists to wise up
ASHES: Former captain offers advice as he prepares for 150th Testmatch
Alastair Cook warns England must wise up to a changed world if they are to regain respect.
Cook will become the first Englishman to reach 150 Test caps when he tries to help Joe Root’s troubled Ashes tourists turn their series around in Perth this week.
But it is a stream of off-the-field, alcohol-related controversies which has placed England’s reputation most in jeopardy.
As their 32-year-old record run-scorer seeks to arrest his worrying dip in form, he concedes the bar room backdrop to England’s two defeats so far owes its genesis to Ben Stokes’ arrest outside a Bristol nightclub in September.
Cook knows that incident, awaiting resolution with Stokes still absent while police decide whether to charge him, drastically altered public perception.
There will be no wriggle room at the WACA, as Root’s men bid to overturn almost 50 years of near unchecked failure at the venue, and Cook accepts there is none either whenever his team-mates venture out after dark these days.
Two episodes, six weeks apart but played out in the same Perth bar, go a long way to proving his point.
First, Jonny Bairstow made all the wrong headlines with his misjudged ‘headbutt’ greeting for Australia opener Cameron Bancroft; then, five days ago, Lions batsman Ben Duckett chose to pour a drink over leading wicket-taker James Anderson’s head.
“The world obviously changed for the England cricket team in September,” said Cook.
“Those last two incidents have proven there is very little margin for error when you’ve had a beer. We’ve just got to smarten up, and we’ve got to do it quickly, because there’s too much at stake.”
It will, of course, be a special moment tomorrow when he wins his landmark cap.
“Not many people play 150 Test matches so to do that, and at the top of the order, I’m quite proud. (But) my job ... is to try to get England off to a good start – and on this tour I have struggled.
“We’ve got the biggest game of our lives coming up and we’ve got to scrap unbelievably hard for the five days.
“I try my hardest all the time and I prepare as well as I can.”
There have been suggestions that Cook’s renowned determination is beginning to wane, and may point towards the end of his career.
But he said: “The people who are saying that have had no contact time with me. They wouldn’t know the extra nets I’ve been doing behind closed doors.”