Mitchell Johnson Cook is no longer showing that fire in his belly

England opener has not shown the hunger he had six years ago

Alastair Cook is one of the players I have always admired. He has worked tremendously hard at his game. But now I think he is on his last tour. I ran into Cook at Richardson Park during England’s practice game over the weekend and asked him how he was feeling.

He did not give away too much, just shrugged his shoulders. Like in 2013-14, he seemed a bit down, but this time he definitely does not have that look of determination in his eye, that desire. He did not score runs in England’s three practice games and he is averaging 15 in this series: I do not see that fire in his belly any more.

Even if he does make a hundred in this series, I would be surprised if he went on much longer.

I was exactly the same when I knew my time had come. It was such a relief when I told the Australian team that I was going to retire, because you put even more pressure on yourself when you are not performing. I went out one last time, bowled fast and really enjoyed it.

The key with Cook is not his age – he is only 32. It is the fact that this will be his 150th Test. It is not the physical side of Test cricket, but all the mental stuff if you have been playing for 12 years, like he has.

There is too much travel, too much time in hotel rooms and airports, too much time away from home. The public expects so all the time you have to keep a smile on your face. And like I said, you put even more pressure on yourself when you are not performing.

Maybe if Cook took some time away from the game to freshen up, he would come back again, but I would be surprised. I know he likes his stats, being right up there with the all-time Test run-getters, but I do not know if the numbers will matter to him all that much in the end. The way you really want to go out is on a high – like that series he had in 2010-11 when he scored three big hundreds and helped England to win 3-1.

Cook’s body language in that series was so confident. He did not play a ball outside his off stump; he just waited for the bowler to stray on to his legs, and kept doing it all day. When you bowled at him, you knew it was not going to be a matter of six balls, or 12 balls. It was going to be a long contest, and you had to stick to a plan – and as soon as you departed from that plan, he had won. To me, he definitely does not have that same look of determination in his eye now.

As a senior player, Cook is going to be a bit deflated – like the rest of the England team – about another off-field incident, the one involving James Anderson and Ben Duckett, who has been suspended and fined.

This sort of stuff, along with Ben Stokes and the Jonny Bairstow butt, is being reported a lot here

His body language in 2010-11 was so confident. If you departed from your plan, Cook had won

and I am sure the guys read the papers.

I was at the Waca yesterday and I like the look of it. It has a fair bit of grass holding it together at the moment, but it has been so hot – over 40C in Perth yesterday morning – that it is going to crack up as the Test goes on.

One advantage Cook has is that he has played here several times, and got a hundred in 2006-07, so he will be like the Australian players in knowing that, if a ball

hits a crack, it will either do nothing or do too much and go sideways. Last time, I remember a couple from Nathan Lyon hitting a crack and one from Ryan Harris.

These cracks are going to get into the minds of those who have not played at the Waca before. The guys that have played here can tell the others as much as they want that the cracks will not get them out, but it will still get into their heads.

Against the short ball, Mark Stoneman has not looked too comfortable, especially when Mitchell Starc has bowled at him from round the wicket, but I would try both sides. James Vince has looked pretty solid, but that was in Brisbane before the Gabba quickened up. Joe Root has shown what to do: you have to expect to get hit at some point and when you do – like when he got struck on the helmet at the Gabba – you just have to move on straight away.

But we saw some of the England tail-enders backing away when the Adelaide and Gabba pitches quickened up, and the Waca is going to have even more pace and bounce. Playing the short ball in England is easier than over here.

When Australia’s fast bowlers get a couple of quick wickets, you can see their pace go up – and that extra pace is so important, when you can get into their faces and scare them.

I remember Stuart Broad in 2013-14 – his style of batting completely changed after the first Test at the Gabba and he struggled to get anything behind the line of the ball.

Root’s job is to harness all this pressure, ignore all the newspapers and get his players to focus on the job – but Australia are on a roll.