Former England fast-bowler says Cook will be devastated by the decision
Friday 19 December 2014 21:48, UK
Bob Willis believes England have made the right decision in dropping Alastair Cook now rather than risk looking like a laughing stock at the World Cup.
Despite ECB managing director, Paul Downton, saying as recently as Monday that he’d be surprised if Cook wasn’t captain come the tournament’s start on February 14, the selectors have made the change.
It comes after England's disappointing 5-2 series defeat to Sri Lanka.
“It has got more and more embarrassing for him, with failure after failure in Sri Lanka,” Willis said of Cook. “Bowlers around the world have sorted him out – they don’t bowl short at him anymore, there are no more cut shots, there are no more pulls.
“The selectors have given him every possible opportunity to make some runs, they stuck with him during the one-day series in England when all the pundits were saying he shouldn’t be in the side.
"But he’s not one of England’s best one-day players and finally they’ve had to put the boot in and say 'sorry, this can’t go on'.
Cook made just 119 runs from six innings in Sri Lanka at an average of 19.83 and his struggles in the 50-over format having been long-standing, particularly in 2014, where he’s passed fifty only once in 20 matches.
“He’ll be pretty devastated,” said Willis. “He’s a very stubborn character, a proud Englishman.
“But as the tour progressed, you could see the weight of the world was on his shoulders."
England have decided to replace Cook with Eoin Morgan as captain for the World Cup but they’re still left pondering over who will replace him at the top of the order, with many calling for the inclusion of Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales.
“Hales has got a fair way to go, he’s a bit too much of a 20-over player at the moment,” said Willis. “It’s all very well having aggressive players at the top of the order, but if you have both him and Moeen Ali at the top of the order and they both get out having a big heave at the ball, that’s not quite what you want either.
“If it comes off it could be a brilliant opening partnership, a bit like Aaron Finch and David Warner for Australia, but there’s still plenty more thinking for the England selectors to do.”
