Regret The Way My One-Day Career Finished With England, Says Alastair Cook

Jul 13, 2017 at 6:05 PM

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Regret The Way My One-Day Career Finished With England, Says Alastair Cook

The Story

Former England skipper Alastair Cook has stated that he has no regrets about quitting the top post in the England Cricket Team. Cook walked out to play his first match under the leadership of his successor Joe Root against South Africa at Lord’s a few days ago.

While the entire English cricketing fraternity was keenly awaiting the moment when the new skipper would come out to toss the coin with South Africam skipper Dean Elgar, Cook was quietly letting the feeling of being a regular player yet again sink in.

There is no doubt England’s all-time highest run getter wants Root to excel. However, he states that the moment he realised that he would never be able to lead his side again in his career, things became slightly gloomy.

Decision Made At a Right Time

Cook feels he made the decision at a perfect time. The left-handed opener decided to hang his captaincy hat after the conclusion of the unsuccessful Test tour of India in December but only publicly announced after the Christmas break. He states that the break gave him ample time to ponder over his future and make the correct decision.

“It would have been very strange if I had gone straight from not having the captaincy to playing a Test match two weeks later, I was pretty clear coming back from India I wasn’t going to be captain. Those two weeks when I was ‘making the decision’ didn’t change it.

“The constant decision-making takes its effect. I don’t miss the media commitments. But I don’t want to sound negative. And it was a bit strange when it was announced. I don’t want to say I was in mourning as that’s not quite the right word, but it wasn’t relief I felt. It was sadness.

Could Have Accomplished More In My ODI Career 

Aistair Cook

Cook has a fantastic record as a Test cricket as well as a Test opener. The string of records in his tally are enough to complement the fact. But, while he can look back on his time as Test skipper with great satisfaction and admiration, Cook’s ODI captaincy career wasn’t as distinctive as his Test captaincy career. he admits there is a sense of regret over his period in charge of the ODI side.

“I don’t have many regrets but the way my one-day career finished with England was one. That last 12 months when I couldn’t score a run was not a true indication of my one-day game.”

“People will remember that period but, for that first 18 months when we got to No.1 in the rankings, I was averaging 50 and striking at over 100. Or something like that, anyway. I played well in the period when I first took over as captain.”

Motivated To Contribute More

England captain Alastair Cook had a torrid tour to India, both as a batsman and also as a skipper.

Cook’s future as a Test cricketer now solely relies on his performances. There is no captaincy cushion now. But, he is more enthusiastic about his career now. He marked his entry in the fresh season with his club side Essex has already made six centuries in the county season. In the opening Test at Lord’s, he ended up with the highest score for his team in the third innings.

“The period in February I had off I didn’t bat at all,” he said. “I was on the farm.

“As soon as I got on that plane to go on Essex’s pre-season tour, the challenge of scoring runs and mucking in with the lads made sure any thoughts about the captaincy were quickly forgotten.

“I quite like playing cricket, actually. It is an amazing thing what we do and, yes, there are tough times and hard moments along the way.

“But you know the thought of playing here on Friday in front of a full house… That opportunity is not going to be around forever so that’s what kind of motivates me.”

“Root Has Settled”

Alastair Cook also backed Root in his new role. He admits noticing some nervousness in Root at the start of England’s training programme ahead of the Lord’s Test but was glad that the young skipper was able to settle down.

“I thought he was really calm all week,” Cook said. “In that first net session, I don’t think I have seen him bat as badly. Normally he hits lots of balls but he said ‘OK, that is it’ and came back the next day and was fine.

“Clearly if you get a score like he did, that settles a lot of talk about the captaincy. Often captains come in and think they have to change everything. But we haven’t done too much different. He was really calm all week. It was a very impressive first week from him as a captain and leader.”

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