Class act Cook puts his critics at a peep

STrAngE to say wi t h the urn unexpectedly in reach, but it was all a little after the Lord Mayor’s Show at Trent Bridge yesterday.

nobody was wide- eyed with astonishment as the Ashes inched towards the inevitable. We know what i s going to happen: it is simply a case of waiting for it.

This match is almost certainly beyond saving so, for Australia, the series is lost. Michael Clarke is on his last legs as captain and may not even make it to The Oval in the role.

England have every reason to feel stirrings of euphoria, even with the job as yet incomplete. It might be over quickly this morning or stagger towards the afternoon. Having survived day two, Australia’s next mission will be to at least drag England’s batsmen to the crease again.

Yet this game is done. So let’s talk about where we go from here; specifically, l et’s talk Alastair Cook.

What a triumph this series has been for England’s captain. How fortunate that the selectors did not listen to those who would have deposed him this summer. And what madness it would be, just as he appears to be regaining his conviction in the role again, if this was to be his last series as marshal of this team.

Joe root will succeed him one day. Yet root, right now, is on his way to becoming the world’s leading Test batsman. Why not let him ascend to that pinnacle rather than burden him with the captaincy of a tricky threeTest series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, followed by four Tests in South Africa? Let him grow up a little.

Cook is 30. Young enough to have some left in the tank, old enough to have gained wisdom and the gravitas needed for the role. When England f i nally secure the Ashes, Cook will become only the third English captain to win two home series against Australia. The others were Wg grace and Mike Brearley, neither of whom had to put up with being called ‘Captain Weasel’ by allies of disgruntled exiles, as happened to Cook against Sri Lanka at Lord’s last year.

The fallout from the omission of Kevin Pietersen has been poisonous but there is a sense, with this Ashes victory, Cook has lanced that wound at last. It is not just that England have won, but the way they did it.

This was expected to be Australia’s series and, coming out of the second Test at Lord’s, few had altered their thinking the tourists would win.

Yet at Edgbaston, and here at Trent Bridge, England have been magnificent. In rising to the occasion, they have endorsed their belief in Cook in a way the Aussies could not with Clarke.

It was only when the match, and the series, were as good as gone that Australia tried batting properly; an opening partnership of 113 followed by odd pockets of resistance.

Yet England have done it for Cook, and consistently, under pressure. Jimmy Anderson at Edgbaston, Stuart Broad on Thursday, Ben Stokes yesterday. His bowlers have stepped up.

Whatever criticism levelled against him as a strategist, what has never been in doubt is that Cook has the backing of his team. The KP debacle as good as made them choose sides, and they went with the man known affectionately as ‘Chef’.

not that his critics have had much ammunition this summer. Cook has been an accomplished captain, consistently outwitting Clarke. Technically, it is not over. realistically, it is.

It was a grand irony to see Clarke come down the pavilion steps before tea to taunts about getting sacked in the morning. That was supposed to be Cook’s fate at the end of this series.

When England lost by 405 runs at Lord’s, many were wondering if Cook would see out the summer. So this is a personal triumph — more so because it came in adversity. We no longer recall Pietersen’s triple century for Surrey, the intense pressure put on Cook and the ECB during the Tests against new Zealand.

We are reminded this is a captain who won a rare series in India and gave English cricket some of its finest days in recent memory.

He has ushered in a bolder and more attacking style, and was unselfishly willing to embrace that, even though it is far from his natural game.

Cook has given a lot and has plenty more to give. It will be argued he can go out at the top now. But what is the top, at 30? Cook needs to go out when it is right, and when he is ready. not here. This is his moment.