Cook doesn't score quickly enough to justify place (©GettyImages). Alastair Cook has no place in One-Day cricket. It seems almost everyone can see it apart from Cook himself. Oh, and Peter Moores.
As England stutter into yet another World Cup where they will fail miserably and inevitably come home to the usual inquests, Cook continues to plod along at the top of the innings, blinkered in his view that he is the right man to lead England to Australia and New Zealand in February.
Unfit
This is self-centred and arrogant. Cook does not possess the skills with the bat to thrive in the one-day format. He has very few scoring shots and, along with most of the England team, is incapable of playing spin.
Over the last three years, Cook is the third-highest run scorer in ODI cricket. That sounds impressive, but he has played far more games than most of the top ten. The main issue with Cook’s batting is not the number of runs but how quickly he scores them.
During that period since 2011, Cook’s strike rate is 78.60. That is simply not good enough. Any batsman opening the batting, especially heading into a World Cup on the fast pitches in Australia has to be capable of a strike rate of at least 85. Cook isn’t.
Openers
What is more, the opening batsmen at next years World Cup have to be capable of clearing the ropes or at least the infield in the powerplay overs. Cook isn’t. Out of the top ten run scorers since 2011, Cook has hit the joint fewest number of sixes. He has managed just eight in three years. Compare that to India’s Rohit Sharma, who has faced 500 fewer balls than Cook but has managed to hit 35 more sixes. This demonstrates the pedestrian nature of Cook’s batting.
His plodding in the opening overs puts England behind the game. The rest of the batsmen have to come in and one by one attempt to increase the run rate from the near Test Match rate that Cook has set. This inevitably results in wickets lost and England posting average totals of between 200 and 250, while the nations in contention to lift the World Cup will consistently rack up 300 plus.
Alex Hales has been brought into the England side to open the batting alongside Cook, off the back of his outstanding 50-over form for Nottinghamshire and his T20 showings for England. He has been brought in as the power scorer but at Nottinghamshire, Hales is able to take his time to build an innings and then accelerate as the overs tick by.
Pairings
That is because he opens the batting with Michael Lumb, who gets the team off to a flyer and then is backed up by the likes of James Taylor and Samit Patel who also score quickly – allowing Hales to develop his innings. With Cook, Hales will have to set the pace, as Cook will potter along at his own pace, waiting for the short ball for him to play his only attacking shot.
Cook’s continued selection demonstrates everything that is wrong with the England selection process. For some reason England will not pick the power hitters from the County scene. Instead they persist with the traditional Test Match type players such as Ian Bell and Joe Root. It makes a mockery of the County scene, with players who are outperforming the usual batch ignored time and time again.
Aggressive
England must be more aggressive if they are to stand any chance in the World Cup. The likes of Cook, Bell and Root must be replaced by the outstanding County performers such as Jason Roy, James Vince and James Taylor. Peter Moores must be bold enough to push for a squad capable of playing a modern brand of one-day cricket, where striking boundaries throughout the innings is essential.
More importantly Cook must quit the side or be removed. His batting is a virus that England need to rid themselves of and fast. With just months left to the World Cup, if they persist with the pedestrian opener and the other band of negative Test Match batsmen, it will be yet another tournament England will let pass them by.
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