Former all-rounder would make Morgan captain, bring in Hales and axe Bell...
Saturday 29 November 2014 22:37, UK
England must drop Alastair Cook for Wednesday's third one-day international against Sri Lanka and give the captaincy to Eoin Morgan, says Ian Botham.
Cook’s side crashed to an eight-wicket defeat in the second ODI in Colombo on Saturday to go 2-0 down in the seven-match series as Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara shared an unbroken stand of 149 after England were bowled out for 185.
Former England all-rounder Botham believes that, with matches running out before the 2015 World Cup, the time has come for Cook - who averages 29.07 in 14 ODIs in 2014 with a strike-rate of 71.4 - to step aside.
Changes
"England do need to make changes and they’ve got to make them quickly," he reflected. "We are saying that the players that are here have a chance to prove their worth for the World Cup. But from what we’ve seen so far, if we are not careful, we won’t make the latter stages of the World Cup.
"So we need to make changes - we need to liven it up and freshen it up. The whole thing looked very flat and very tedious out there today.
"I would make changes for Wednesday. We are running out of time. There are only five more games here - then you've got the tri-series games in Australia against Australia and India and, let’s be honest, you really want the squad that you are going to take to the World Cup out there for that so we haven’t got a lot of time.
"Personally I would bring in Alex Hales at the top of the order with Moeen Ali - so that means that the captain has to step down. I would make Morgan captain because I think that’s just what he needs - I think he thinks a bit more out of the box.
"We brought on our strike bowler today when we needed wickets without a slip and where did the ball go through? Slip. Whether Jayawardene would have played that shot if a slip had been in is debatable, but it did go in the air through there.
"I would bring Ben Stokes in for Harry Gurney and I would bring in James Taylor for, I’m afraid, Ian Bell because I just think we need to liven it up, get some new ideas, some new ways of playing. On weight of runs, James Taylor deserves to play.
"Hales scored a hundred against Sri Lanka not long ago. I would put him at the top of the order. If England want to really do well in this World Cup, they must play their dynamic players.
"You have to be able to take sides apart and I think those guys need to come in and be given the opportunity."
Lacklustre
Sri Lanka chased down England's 185 with ease, reaching their target in just 34.2 overs as Jayawardene (77) and Sangakkara (67) manoeuvred the ball around with ease.
"It was pretty lacklustre," said Botham of England’s performance. "I don’t think there’s any way that England can say that they can take anything out of that game positively.
"The only good thing was that Finn came back into the side and added a little bit extra to the bowling department and he’ll get better because he’s only just started playing again, so let him play through the series.
"Then there was Ravi Bopara - when you think that’s his third fifty in four knocks and yet he didn’t play at all against India, it does make you wonder a little about where the thinking is."
Watch the third one-day international between Sri Lanka and England live on Sky Sports 2 this Wednesday from 8.30am.