Hayter: Have the runs finally run dry for record-breaking Cook?
As if Aussie cricket fans have not already had more than enough fun peering at grainy videos of England cricketers, they would have loved every one of the 48 seconds of film which recently found its way onto the official website of Cricket Australia.
Indeed, so successfully did it pinpoint the battles Alastair Cook is facing following his pair of failures in the first Test in Brisbane that you could have been forgiven for thinking the powersthat-be within Australian cricket actually sanctioned the screening of his ‘secret’ net session prior to the second Test in Adelaide. Which, of course, they did.
Tucked away at the foot of the relevant web page on Cricket.com.au is the obligatory disclaimer, stating categorically: “The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Cricket Australia.”
Of course not, though they obviously place enough trust in the opinions and judgment of the excellent Andrew Ramsey, who they inform us, “previously wrote for The Guardian, The Australian, The Times, Telegraph, The Hindu and Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack”, to have appointed him their senior writer. And, in any case, they would say that, wouldn’t they?
But the fact of the matter, as was shown in the hilarious CA monitored post-Gabba revelations of Jonny Bairstow’s ‘headbuttgate’, is that anything that might cause even more discomfort and embarrassment to the Poms than Ben Stokes, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith have already managed is all right by them.
And sadly, as far as England’s highest Test run-scorer is concerned, it appears they may be on another winner.
The manner of Cook’s dismissals in Brisbane was troubling enough.
The first, a firm-footed prod to a ball well pitched up around off-stump, his classic mode of early dismissal, brought to mind Shane Warne’s barb about Monty Panesar being stuck within his limitations. “He hasn’t played 30-odd Tests,” Warne once said of Monty, “he’s played the same Test 30–odd times.”
In Cook’s case, the harshest critics of his three-shot technique might say, make that 148 times.
The second innings hook that flew to fine leg was surely a sign of desperation to break free from the stranglehold imposed by opponents who grew up knowing that the three certainties in life are death, taxes and Cook’s batting technique and possess the skill to bowl where he doesn’t want them to. The pull? Yes, please. The hook? Just no.
No one could accuse Cook of lacking desire . If he didn’t care he woudn’t put himself through a net session in temperatures of 39.4C
Yet the 32-year-old Essex man has been here before and, time and again, more than compensated by virtue of the strength of purpose, focus, concentration, coolness under pressure, determination, hard work and sheer bloody-mindedness, that have enabled him to score more runs, 11,638, compile more centuries, 31, maintain an average in the high 40s, and play more Tests than any other England player, by miles.
He is, after all, essentially the same batsman with the same strengths and weaknesses as he was when he scored 766 runs at 127.67 in England’s only Ashes win Down Under since 1986-87 (though that was before Mitchell Johnson was a real threat) and who scored 243 the last time England faced a pink ball under lights, in the first Test against West Indies at Edgbaston in August.
As for the second and possibly even more significant cause for concern, it revolves around one simple question. Has he has been to the well too many times?
Whether or not the lure of home, family and farm is proving too enticing an alternative to month after month away from them, living out of cricket coffins and having to put up with team room bants from players considerably younger than him, some of whom, it appears, seem convinced the only way to unwind after a hard day playing cricket is to head for the nearest watering hole for a session on the Jagerbombs, only he will know.
When Cook lost the captaincy earlier this year, opinion was split over how long he might be able to carry on being back in the ranks and, while he appeared to welcome that prospect and also continues to enjoy an excellent relationship with his successor Joe Root, he did admit to mixed feelings when he took the field for the first time as an ex-leader.
No one would ever accuse Cook of lacking desire, and he has spoken often and feelingly about what it means to him to put on is England cap. And if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t put himself through another ‘secret’ net session in Adelaide temperatures of 39.4 C, “so uncomfortably high”, according to Ramsey, “that even mad dogs went whimpering in search of shady refuge,” and subject himself to coaches Mark Ramprakash and Paul Collingwood twanging the dog-thrower at him, sending down bouncers for him to hook (down, not up), yorkers for him to dig out and off-spinners for him to sweep to try and smother the virtual threat of Nathan Lyon.
But Kevin Pietersen, who, admittedly, has barely had a good word to say about his former skipper from the moment he claimed Cook was complicit in his sacking after England’s last visit here, may not have been too wide of the mark with his assessment at the end of Australia’s ten-wicket victory in Brisbane.
‘The first concern would be Alastair Cook and his form,” KP told BT Sport.
“The dismissals of Cook would cause flutters in that dressing room. The manner in which he got out in the first innings is a huge cause for concern. It’s a technique he fights with on a daily basis.
“Then Alastair’s strong shot has been the pull, he’s a magnificent player of the pull shot and scored so many runs with it. To get out that way [in the second innings]…
“For me, it’s the bigger picture. The way he walks off the field, the way he walks to training, I don’t see a bounce in his step. I just don’t see it.
“When he walked off the field after his dismissal he was very relaxed about it, it wasn’t an assertive, caring, ‘why did I get out?’ scenario.” Err, pot, kettle, black? But I digress. “That’s probably the biggest concern,” KP continued.
“It’s that care, he’s played almost 150 Test matches and it’s quite difficult to get up every single day for Test cricket.”
“Cook bakes alone in bid to revisit golden run,” ran the headline above the story on the Cricket Australia website.
For him and for England the proof of the pudding may be about to reveal itself.