Cook’s tour dilemma

ENGLAND’S tour of Bangladesh will go ahead next month but there remains a question mark over whether captain Alastair Cook will lead the team. Three hours of talks last night between England players and security advisers resulted in a green light for the trip despite concerns about terrorist activity. However, Cook faces an agonising decision over whether he will be there with his team because his wife, Alice, is due to give birth to their second child around the time of a tour that starts on September 30 and lasts for a month. There would not usually be a problem in taking paternity leave, especially against such mediocre opposition. Yet the sensitive nature of the trip — and the fact that the absence of Cook would make it easier for others to pull out because of security concerns — will make this one of the most difficult decisions of Cook’s career.