COOK’S JOB ON THE LINE AFTER FIASCO
ALASTAIR Cook stood in disbelief after rocking back to play his favourite pull shot only to bottom- edge Dhammika Prasad’s delivery and see the ball cannon into his stumps. It was the lowest point of the worst day of his captaincy. When Cook was churning out hundred after hundred he would have despatched the ball to the boundary but now, woefully out of form and fighting for his captaincy life, even the shot that has earned him a huge chunk of his 8,000-plus Test runs let him down.
Cook was gone for 16, Gary Ballance followed next ball and England began crashing in the most shambolic manner possible to the unheralded talents of 31-year- old journeyman Prasad, who took four prime wickets. When nightwatchman Liam Plunkett tamely lobbed Rangana Herath to cover off the last ball of the day, England’s misery was almost complete.
At 57 for five, chasing a massive 350 to win this second Test and the Investec series, they today face a humiliating defeat.
There were many dark days during a winter when England were taken apart by Australia but this is surely as bad as it can get for a captain who survived the cull t hat greeted t he 5- 0 Ashes whitewash.
A two-Test home series against Sri Lanka was meant to provide a gentle start to the new era, a chance for England to regroup and for Cook to prove he can mould a
“As a group, we have got to get behind him”
team in his image to lead England forward positively.
Instead, barring a miracle to surpass the 1981 Ashes Test on this ground, it will today turn into Sri Lanka’s historic first Test series win in England to complete a clean sweep after their wins in the Twenty20 and one-day series.
That will be a crushing blow for England’s new regime, not least for captain Cook, who will go into a high-profile series against India under enormous pressure. If he gets that far.
It is conceivable, with England a rabble under his l eadership yesterday, that Cook will fall on his sword.
England have invested hugely in him and will want to give him a lot more time, but to be outclassed by Sri Lanka and their supposedly pop- gun attack at home will seriously test the ECB’s loyalty.
Remember, England dominated the bulk of the first two days of this Test, having come within one wicket of winning the first, but the transformation since they were coasting at 311 for three in reply to Sri Lanka’s 257 has been total.
Sri Lanka, supposedly the warmup for the main Indian act, have been sensational under their highly impressive captain Angelo Mathews and have proved their quality and toughness here — but there is no excuse for England.
They were pathetic yesterday from the moment Cook allowed Sri Lanka to milk 40 runs from the remaining seven overs with the old ball without l ooking to take wickets.
There can be no sparing a captain who lacked any tactical acumen in the field while his opposite number scored his second consecutive hundred. Cook then carried on his own long spell without a century.
England were still in this match when Plunkett took two wickets in consecutive balls for the second time in this Test to leave Sri Lanka 169 ahead with only three wickets left. But their hopes were soon dashed.
Cook had refused to attack Mathews from the moment Mahela Jayawardene fell, instead trying to target the tail, and allowed him to move from his overnight 24 to a priceless 160, principally in a stand of 149 with Herath.
Most baffling was Cook’s refusal to turn to Moeen Ali for t he bulk of t hat stand between l unch and t ea, even though he had taken the wickets of two key left-handers on Sunday and was facing a third i n Herath, who has a history of swishing at off-spinners.
Instead, Jimmy Anders o n and Stuart Broad, who will be crucial when England face those five Tests in six weeks against India, were flogged into the ground, while Chris Jordan struggled to make an impact.
England, who squandered seven chances in the Sri Lanka first innings and another crucial one at the start of their second, were again culpable i n their own demise yesterday, dropping t hree more chances and wasting their two reviews. Mo s t crucial was Plunkett spilling Mathews on 87 off his own bowling, while Engl and’s l ack of judgment over reviews was exposed when Billy Bowden missed a cl ear edge f r om Shaminda Eranga off Anderson, who demonstrated such fury at the decision that he was l ast night facing a fine for dissent. Bowden had almost as bad a day as Cook, later giving two palpably wrong caughtbehind decisions t hat were overturned, with the suspicion being his exchange with Anderson had affected his judgment.
Yet the umpire will not change the result and some time today, probably sooner rather than later, England will be faced with another bout of soul- searching just as difficult as a nything t hey encountered last winter.
‘I’m sure he’s pretty disappointed, as we all are,’ said Ian Bell of his captain.
‘He’s got more hundreds than anyone in an England shirt and he’s one of the best batsmen I’ve ever played with. One innings and he’ll be flying again. But as a group, we’ve got to help him. We’ve got to get right behind him.’
This England team are behind Cook and the leadership alternatives are probably restricted to Bell and Joe Root, but the captain will have much thinking to do when he returns to his f amily f arm away f r om Headingley’s glare. It was not meant to be like this.