Sir Ian Botham has led a chorus of disapproval of Alastair Cook’s one-day captaincy, joining Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan in calling for him to step down before the World Cup, which is two and a half months away.
The former all-rounder was infuriated by the tourists’ eight-wicket mauling by Sri Lanka, England’s seventh loss in their past eight one-day games.
Cook, who averages less than 30 in 14 one-dayers in 2014, managed a meagre 22 runs before falling to the part-time spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan and offered little attacking intent in the field.
England went 2-0 down with five matches remaining and so Cook is already perilously on course to lead his country to a humiliating sixth consecutive one-day international series defeat.
“England do need to make changes and they’ve got to make them quickly,” Botham said on Sky Sports. “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 [Eoin] Morgan captain, because I think that’s just what he needs – I think he thinks a bit more outside the box.
“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.
“It was pretty lacklustre. I don’t think there’s any way that England can say that they can take anything out of that game positively.”
Within seconds of England’s 185 all out being overhauled, Pietersen tweeted: “Dear Alastair, if you care about England’s chances this winter, pls resign and just concentrate on Test cricket.”
Also critical was another of Cook’s predecessors, Michael Vaughan, who tweeted: “It’s not too late to change … It’s not too late to compete … But England won’t if they stay the same …”
Cook initially responded to Pietersen’s criticism by pointing out that he could not reply directly as he was not on social media, but when pressed he said: “People are totally entitled to their view. That’s the nature of the beast when you’re on the outside. People believe what they want to believe. In our dressing room, we’ve got to stay strong as a group.
“We’re the guys who have the honour of playing for England at this moment in time, and we have guys who have the opportunity to turn it round – not other people outside.”
Cook has not made an ODI hundred in 41 innings, stretching back more than two years – and he said: “I think you feel the heat when you’re not scoring runs. If you have two games at the start of a tour and don’t score them, you’re naturally going to start feeling that. That’s only natural. [But] I’ve just got to do what I keep doing, believing in myself, doing my basics right.”
