Alastair Cook steps down as England captain

[GIMH]

Just got a notification from SSN. Will try find a link

 

[GIMH]

Alastair Cook stands down as England Test captain | London Evening Standard

 

[Spikey]

after that last series I sure hope Root follows in the lead of Cook and Strauss and now never ever plays T20 for england again

 

[Daemon]

Roots not ready, his beard is really patchy

 

[honestbharani]

Lol.. will this end up costing Morgan his LO captaincy?

 

[weldone]

Things are not looking good for England test team.

 

[weldone]

Lol.. will this end up costing Morgan his LO captaincy?

depends on the Champions Trophy

 

[Bijed]

I think it's the right move, with his comments before the India tour heavily suggesting he didn't really want to be doing it any more. Presumably Root gets given the job, which I'm fine with.

 

[mackembhoy]

Really not going to help Roots massive problem of converting 50s into big scores/match winning ones.

Bayliss has made the test side go backwards. So I dunno really what will happen next.

Ashes are scary tbh.

 

[Spark]

Really not going to help Roots massive problem of converting 50s into big scores/match winning ones.

Bayliss has made the test side go backwards. So I dunno really what will happen next.

Ashes are scary tbh.

Don't know why you would assume this tbh.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Obviously wanted to avoid the South Africa jinx.

Will be interesting to see how Root handles it. If anything I think the extra responsibility might give him the kick up the arse he needs to stop throwing away big scores.

 

[sledger]

Keep the captaincy off Root imo. Let him concentrate on batting.

 

[mackembhoy]

Don't know why you would assume this tbh.

Just heaps further pressure onto someone who isn't ready to captain a test side. He's captained less than others in the side.

We've made that mistake in the past of dropping captaincy onto Flintoff and KP.

I know Root isn't as big of a helmet as both of them.

But with the test team in a bit of a dissarray which I will blame Bayliss and selectors for. Before I go attacking cook like plenty do.

This is gonna be a tough transition period. Just hope cook gets back to his best and shoves that average well into the 50s.

 

[Compton]

Nah, Root definitely seems the type to really kick on with his batting once he's named captain.

 

[Burgey]

Been a damn fine servant of English cricket, Al Cook. Hope he stays in the side and scores runs.

 

[Marius]

Obviously wanted to avoid the South Africa jinx.

Came here to say that.

 

[Spark]

Nah, Root definitely seems the type to really kick on with his batting once he's named captain.

Yeah exactly. For example, Clarke's freakish period where he turned starts into enormous scores very reliably really only started once he got the captaincy. Ponting got a big boost too.

 

[Bijed]

Obviously we don't know what effect the captaincy will have on Root's batting, but with OS and Compton I'm of the opinion that it could well be what finally focusses him enough to start really making the most of his talent. I think (read hope) that Cook's batting will improve too, as I think the signs have been for a while that he's at a stage where he can no longer have added responsibility and perform at his best. A career average of 50 isn't happening now, but here's hoping he can push up towards it.

As for the captaincy itself, no idea how Root will go. Good chance of being >= Cook, though (ftr I think Cook's captaincy was fine on the whole)

 

[Scaly piscine]

So the blatantly obvious decision has finally been made. How long before they announce the new captain? 4 months maybe?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Obviously going to happen, thanks for the great series wins in India and South Africa and a couple of ashes victories. Now get on with breaking Tendulkar's run record.

Good luck to Root, has the makings of a decent side there just need to put it together more often and at least from his point of view he won't have many tours to Asia in the coming few years.