Published: Dec 14, 2014, 06:27 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 14, 2014, 06:31 PM (IST)
Dec, 14 2014
The England ODI team, under Alastair Cook, has lost the ongoing One Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka, trailing 4-2 in the seven match affair. This is England’s fourth consecutive ODI series loss, which has prompted the England management to review Cook’s position as captain.
England coach, Peter Moores threw light on the situation saying, “Alastair has said clearly he is very keen to carry on, but also knows that that’s not his decision. Nobody has got the guarantee of that. I hear people say someone’s unsackable (sic). That would be a ridiculous comment.”
Moores, however, expressed his personal opinion on the situation of wanting Cook to remain captain till the World Cup 2015. He said, “If you ask my opinion on Alastair, I would have Alastair as captain for the World Cup, but we will review at the end of the series, not just Alastair’s captaincy, but the whole team, and pick our squad.”
Seemingly, the pressure of captaincy is even impacting his ODI batting performances, scoring just 87 runs in his five innings in the ongoing series at a paltry average of 17. His highest score in this period is only 34, reported BBC. This trend is not unique to this series as he averages just 24.95 with 499 runs in his last 21 ODIs, with a lone half century in the period.
Despite the bad performances, the selector’s panel has been supportive of Cook. James Whitaker, the England national selector expressed his support for Cook in September following the home series losses to Sri Lanka and India calling Cook “an exceptional leader”. He added that the selectors were “100% behind him.”
On Saturday, a 16-man-England squad to tour Australia for the tri-series involving India, Australia and England is to be announced by Whitaker in co-ordination with co-selectors Angus Frazer, Mick Newell and Moores. The final World Cup squad is scheduled to be announced on January 7.
On being asked if there was confusion in regards with Cook’s role, he answered, “I’m not confused, I’m very clear – at the end of the series, we will review. If you ask me my opinion, Alastair Cook will be captain for the World Cup, that’s pretty clear, I think.”
He went on to add, “At the end of the series, we will go away, we will review every position to pick what we think is the best squad to try and win the World Cup.”
