Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has said the under-performing England team needs Alastair Cook more as a batsman than a captain.
Calls to replace Cook as the captain of the Test team have escalated by leap and bounds after his team was thrashed 4-0 by India in the recently-concluded Test series. However, Vaughan insisted if Cook wants to continue as the captain of the team, he’ll have to do some soul-searching to find the motivation for leading the Three Lions.
Writing in his column for the Daily Telegraph, he said:“When you are captain, and the team is losing, you do not enjoy the game. It drags you down. You wake up in the morning not really wanting to go out and play. Cook somehow has to rediscover that zest and energy to play the game. The team need his power and runs at the top of the order more than his leadership.”
With England set to visit Australia next year for the all-important Ashes series, Vaughan said the under-pressure skipper would have to be absolutely committed to turning things around.
“Nobody can accuse him of not giving everything. But to pick up a Test team that is on a losing streak to take on South Africa and the West Indies next summer, and then to Australia, he has to be absolutely committed to being captain,” he added.
Speculations were rife that Cook would step down from captaincy after the India debacle but the southpaw said he would take his time before making a decision.
And backing Cook’s stance, Vaughan wrote:“If he feels he is the man to lead them next year then he needs to bring together that core group of players who appear in all formats and ask them to drive the team in a different direction. He can’t have any inkling he wants to go. He can’t suddenly lose the first Test against South Africa in July and think ‘oh no what have I done? Why have I carried on?'”
Meanwhile, the cricketer-turned-commentator said England are playing their worst cricket at this stage. Well, one cannot deny his claims after the way they capitulated against the Indian team. Alastair Cook’s men suffered innings defeat in the last two matches even after scoring 400 and 477 runs.
“Will the England team play any better or worse if he goes? I can’t see how they can play worse. It is not just this defeat. They have been playing like this for a while. Cook cannot have enjoyed his cricket this year. It has been an incredibly tough year for the Test team,” said Vaughan.
Accusing the players of being mentally weak, Vaughan said:“Mental toughness is sometimes playing the way the game dictates even if it is against your natural instincts. Mental toughness is fighting through tiring times, and staying the distance and keeping performance levels up to the end of the fifth day of the last Test of a series.”
“In seven of their last eight series England have lost the last match. When you reach the last day of the series and have two sessions to bat out with 10 wickets in hand, the mentally tough thing to do is play the situation and game in front of you. Just see out the Test,” he concluded.