In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except
death, taxes and Shane Warne criticising Alastair Cook’s captaincy. Everyone’s
favourite Australian commentator/comedy act has delivered again this week,
spouting the sort of ludicrous nonsense that we’ve become accustomed to hearing
from him since he hung up his boots.
Warne has stated that in his not so humble opinion, Alastair
Cook should be sacked as England captain immediately and replaced with either
Graeme Swann or Kevin Pietersen. Warne said that Cook was simply too negative
and England would never become the best side in the world under his leadership.
This isn’t the first time that Warne has spouted off about
Cook, indeed in recent months he has mentioned it to such an extent that he is
starting to sound less like a broken record but increasingly like a section of
prose by David Peace. So if we take away the sheer ridiculousness of suggesting
that the ECB sack their captain two weeks before the start of an Ashes series,
does Warne begin to have a point?
Cook’s captaincy hasn’t always been inspired, indeed one of
the hallmarks of the regime of Andy Flower has been conservatism at times.
However the other rather noticeable aspect on the Flower/Cook partnership has
been winning and plenty of it.
Indeed in the last ten test matches that he has led England,
Cook has faced two captains who have been widely lauded for their aggressive
and dynamic captaincy. Brendon McCullum and Michael Clarke set interesting
fields and tried a number of unorthodox things in their quest to defeat
England. They were praised and loved for their attacking instincts, while Cook
faced some criticism for a job that he has occupied for barely a year. Between
them over the course of five matches each against Cook, Messrs McCullum and
Clarke won a grand total of zero test matches against Cook. That’s right, nada.
So what can we draw from this? Basically the Englishman is a
winning captain. By hook or by crook, Cook finds a way to win Test matches. At
Durham, when Australia appeared to be cruising to a victory that would have
kept the series alive, what did Cook do? Panic? No, as usual he found a way to
win.
While Clarke and Australia were being whitewashed in India, Cook was busy
reflecting on a historic 2-1 win on the sub-continent, not bad for a man with “negative”
and “boring” tactics.
On a wider note this barrage of criticism from Warne reveals
something that we already knew, the extent to which the Australians fear Cook.
This is the man that plundered runs with an alarming ease during the last
series Down Under, and is now set to be the man who captains a side to multiple
Ashes series victories. The unassuming man from Gloucester really has Australia
rattled, if anything the criticism is the most sincere of compliments.
He may not be Michael Clarke, but then again he does win
test matches. Ask any English fan whether they’d rather win 3-0 with Cook’s ‘brand’
of cricket or lose 3-0 playing Clarke’s way. I think we all know which they’d
prefer.
As for Warne, it’s sad to see such a legend of the game diminish
himself by spouting such drivel. A man who has over 700 Test wickets has become
Liz Hurley’s real-life Ken doll and continues to invite ridicule whenever he
speaks. He has gone from world-class spin bowler, to second-rate spin doctor,
each rant looks more embittered than the last.
So sit back and enjoy as Warne completes his transformation
into an increasingly naff Malcolm Tucker, and don’t be surprised if he
advocates replacing Cook with Dan Miller before the series is over.
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