Captain not cooked yet, says Hussain

Alastair Cook’s first-innings 76 against West Indies in the second Test in Grenada has won the beleaguered England captain support from one man who used to hold the same post, Nasser Hussain.

In reply to the hosts’ 299, Cook was stoic in facing 211 balls to register his fourth score of 70-plus in his last seven Test innings.

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And while those numbers will please the 30-year-old to a point, while simultaneously quelling the critics, the more stark figures are those concerning his pained century drought.

Cook is now 72 hours short of going 700 days without a Test hundred. In that period, he’s played 34 innings, making it the second-longest stretch without posting three figures by an England captain.

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Only Mike Brearley, a man renowned for his superb captaincy more so than his batting – he failed to score a century in his 39 Tests for England – has had a leaner run.

“What Alastair Cook did here, particularly in the first hour of his innings, was spot-on,” wrote Hussain in the UK’s Daily Mail.

“That has to be his template from now on and if he carries on the way he has played here in Grenada, those hundreds will come again.

“This was really encouraging for the England captain but ultimately hugely frustrating because he couldn’t push on to that all-important hundred.

“He is stronger mentally than anyone he will face, so he just has to carry on showing the same discipline. The bowlers will become bored before he does.

“The fact is, 76 here was pretty much worth a hundred in these day-three conditions, but sadly for Cook that is not how the record books will show it.”

Cook’s century drought began in the first Test of the 2013 Ashes, and through 10 straight Tests against the Australians – and 20 innings – the left-hander made six fifties and averaged 26.15 as the difficult times really set in.

Prior to that, he had scored five hundreds in nine Tests against New Zealand and India.

Come July 8, Cook will again face the Australians across a five-Test Ashes series.

“Cook just has to put that one key statistic to bed and finally reach three figures, then move on with such a big summer ahead,” Hussain added.

“His inability to do so means we are still talking about how long it’s been since his last Test century but there were good signs here.”

The Mirror’s Dean Wilson also spoke in positive terms about the performance of the England captain.

“(Cook) has to remember that he has now scored more than 70 in four of his last seven Test innings and if England can force a win in Grenada, that will be four wins out of five,” Wilson wrote.

“Almost everything hit the middle of his bat, perhaps explaining why he was so annoyed at trying to cut a ball too close to him (when he was dismissed).

“From start to finish he looked unflustered and much more like his old self as he accumulated slowly but steadily.”

Meanwhile, another former Test captain turned correspondent, Mike Atherton, positively purred over the performance of young gun Joe Root who, in contrast to Cook, had no problems in racing to a century from just 125 balls – his sixth consecutive fifty-plus score in Tests.

“There is something about the way he goes to the crease that immediately gives the impression of action,” Atherton wrote in London’s The Times.

“He does not amble out, rather he skips and jogs, waving his arms and his bat initially, shadowing three drives off the front foot, and three off the back, his bat whirring all the time, giving the impression that here is a man who wants to hit the ball rather than merely keep it out.

“When he took a quick single to get off the mark, it was just another reminder of his intentions.

“When he brought up his hundred with a cut four off Kemar Roach deep into the final session, he was batting as well as a man can.”