Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, has stated his belief that Alastair Cook will continue his role as Test captain into next summer.
Cook chalked up an English record 55th appearance in the role during last week’s drawn first Test with India in Rajkot and has previously spoken of his intention to return to the playing ranks before his eventual retirement. It has raised the question of whether this might even occur after the current series.
Strauss, Cook’s predecessor in the job and current line manager, will continue to discuss the matter with the 31-year-old periodically but sees little reason for a change given both the lengthy breaks afforded by his five-day specialism – England’s next Test series is against South Africa in July 2017 – and the progress of the current team.
“From what I’ve seen he is in a really good place,” said Strauss, on the eve of Thursday’s second Test in Visakhapatnam. “I think he is very comfortable leading this team as he has been for a while now, so it probably takes less out of him now than it used to. He’s batting well and he’s still young. It is quite scary how young he is really and I have every faith that he will carry on past this series and into the summer.
“Every indication he has given me is he is driven, he’s passionate, he’s motivated, he’s loving this environment and he’s excited about some of the young players coming through, and that is not a bad place for him to be.”
Asked whether part of any future decision will factor in what is also best for Joe Root, Cook’s vice-captain and expected successor, Strauss replied: “Yes, but ultimately it is about whether Alastair is the right person to take the team forward. If we decide that is not the case then we think about who his replacement is.”
While Test specialists such as Cook will have six months away from international cricket from the end of the year, Strauss is wary of the problem of burnout for multi‑format cricketers such as Root, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali, with England’s longest and busiest ever summer looming in 2017 and the following set of winter tours to Australia and New Zealand that could span five months in total.
Rest and rotation between formats has, to date, meant one-day cricket is predominantly treated as the secondary format, but after Strauss introduced white-ball central contracts at the end of the summer, and with the dual goal of winning the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup – both of which are on home soil – he concedes Test cricket may yet have to give in this regard.
“The all-format players are the ones affected most by this and we need to be careful about them,” said Strauss. “We have to be cognisant to the fact that if we just think people are OK then that is when we get into difficulty.”
Strauss also confirmed that he will look into the future use of a spin-bowling coach in the current management setup following positive feedback regarding Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan international, who has worked with England’s slow bowlers during the current series and seen an initial one-Test contract extended up to and including the third Test against India in Mohali, which begins on 26 November.
A full-time role is unlikely to be created, however, with the former England captain adding: “Personally I’m not convinced you need one there every single game that you play but I think you need someone there enough that they develop strong relationships with players and be there at important times in series and on tours.
“It is an obvious area we need to have the right support for players in, while also bearing in mind that we don’t want people there for the sake of it and we also want players to think for themselves and not become too reliant on coaches to do their thinking for them.”
