I see it’s being widely reported tonight that Alastair Cook is going to be confirmed as England’s 50 over team captain tomorrow.
From a purely cricketing point of view I’m not totally in favour of this, but looking at the bigger picture and the limited options available, what else could England really have done?
The cricketing point of view that I’m not convinced by is, is Alastair Cook good enough to hold down a place in the 50 over side?
But in the bigger picture, if Strauss is retiring we really need a proper opener, Cook obviously works well with Andy Flower and he is also the natural successor to Strauss as captain in the test team.
Another down side to this is that England look like they also need a new T20 captain. Making Cook the 50 over captain might be a risk, but there is absolutely no way in the world that he can captain the T20 side. KP and Broad are the names in the frame to replace Collingwood.
In my view, having two captains is probably one too many, having three cannot be healthy at all for the long term good of the team.
The positive thing about it all is that Cook and Strauss seem like level headed guys who aren’t going to try to undermine each other too further their own cause, the same with Broad.
What happens with Kevin Pietersen and the T20 captaincy will be interesting though, he is supposed to have said he is happy to be considered for captain again. There were also stories flying around that he annoyed the England management by returning home early from the world cup and that they doubted his commitment.
If he is overlooked, then how will this be interpreted?
It will be interesting too see what is said at tomorrow’s press conference where we will find out if the press are right about Cook’s appointment, and in time we will find out if Andy Flower is right about Cook’s capabilities.