COOK’s opening up for a run surge
Chris Stocks speaks to Alastair Cook about life after the England captaincy and his thoughts on their misfiring top-order
Alastair Cook may no longer be captain, but he is hoping he can still lead from the front this summer by helping to revive England’s misfiring top-order.
The first Investec Test of the summer against South Africa at Lord’s last week was the opener’s first back in the ranks after four-and-a-half years and a record 59 matches as captain.
However, despite a change of leadership that has seen Joe Root take charge, England’s worrying habit of early-innings collapses continued as they were reduced to 76-4 on the first day.
Only a brilliant 190 from Root rescued the hosts and allowed them to post a total in excess of 450.
It was a familiar feeling for a team who over the past 64 innings spanning three years have lost their third wicket for 55 runs or fewer 23 times.
England’s constant chopping and changing at the top of the order has not helped, with Cook having 11 different opening partners over the past four years and Root switching back from three to four since taking on the captaincy.
The fact Cook is currently joined in the top three by Keaton Jennings, who has played just three Tests, and the recalled Gary Ballance probably doesn’t fill many with confidence that much is going to change over the course of this four-Test series against South Africa.
Yet Cook knows it is an area that must be addressed, especially with an Ashes series in Australia coming up this winter.
“I look at the top four as a unit and often we haven’t got off to brilliant starts,” he says.
“One of our strengths as a team is we do bat deep. And in English conditions with the Dukes new ball it can be quite hard work.
“But I think that could be a development of this side. If we can improve that top-order, the scores should increase. It’s easier said than done. It’s an area we all recognise we could get better.”
The 32-year-old is loving life without the pressures of captaincy and his second-innings 69 at Lord’s bodes well for the rest of the South Africa series, even if he has just one half-century at Trent Bridge, the venue for this week’s second Test.
“In one sense it’s been like it is at Essex – you go back and you’re playing under different leadership,” he said. “It’s the same really and now that first week’s out of the way it’s kind of normal.”
As for his relationship with his successor? “As I’ve said to Rooty, I’ll be there if he wants the help and if I see something I’ll tell him, but I won’t take offence if he just ignores everything I say.”
Root’s temperament in that first week in the job stood out for Cook, who knows how tough a job the Yorkshireman has undertaken.
“I thought he was really calm all week,” he said. “Often captains come in and think they’ve got to change everything. But we haven’t done too much different.
“His side will evolve, like his captaincy, over a period of time and he will get better and better at it as he gets more experienced and comfortable in the role.
“But it was a very impressive first week from him as a person and as a leader.”
The hope now is that a re-energised Cook, England’s record century maker (30) and run-scorer (11,129), can continue plundering international attacks for several more years to come.
His spectacular start to the county summer, where he scored 1,303 runs at 73.1 for Essex across all formats, was inspired in part by losing the England captaincy.
“You kind of have a bit of a point to prove in one sense,” said Cook. “I hadn’t played much one-day cricket so I looked forward to doing that for Essex.
“And also we hadn’t been in the First Division for a long time and I wanted us to hopefully stay up.”
Cook’s runs have helped Essex to the top of the County Championship table.
But the one-day runs Cook scored for his county also meant a lot for a man who was sacked as England’s ODI captain two months before the 2015 World Cup.
“I don’t have many regrets, but the way my one-day cricket finished for England – that last 12 months when I couldn’t score a run – wasn’t a real, true indication of my one-day game,” he said.
“People will remember me for that. So it was nice to go and score a few for Essex.”
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