Alastair Cook’s appointment as England’s One Day International captain raised a few eyebrows this summer with many doubting his credentials as an ODI player. However, with two superb knocks in back-to-back matches against Sri Lanka, Cook has gone someway to proving his critics wrong.
A drastic change in leadership, as has happened within the England cricket team this summer, can go one of two ways. It can spark a team into life with fresh ideas and new found motivation, but it can also backfire. What a change in leadership will do is test the character and nerve of the new man in charge. Cook is still young and has many years ahead of him, giving him plenty of time to cement his place as captain, something every team looks for. Some may argue that an experienced player is more equipped to lead the team, someone like previous captain Paul Collingwood, but short stints of captaincy at the back end of players’ careers will not benefit the team in the long run.
Questions over Cook’s ability to score at a suitable rate in one day cricket have almost immediately been answered with some aggressive innings’ in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. There is no doubting Cook’s current form – the left hander has scored 579 runs in his 5 Test innings in 2011, as well as 267 ODI runs in 4 innings. What will be the important factor will be Cook’s consistency.
Ultimately, I believe that Cook will be judged on his ability to lead the side at the World Cup. England have not made the semi finals since 1992, when they finished runners up to Imran Khan’s Pakistan side. It won’t be easy, but Cook has all the attributes to potentially be England’s first World Cup winning captain.
| England's ODI future: Can Cook win the World Cup? |
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