Gough, Vaughan call for Cook axing

Alastair Cook’s horror run in one-day international cricket continued overnight, with England going down to Sri Lanka by 87 runs in the seventh ODI to again raise calls for the besieged captain to be sacked ahead of the looming ICC Cricket World Cup.

Following England’s 5-2 ODI series loss to Sri Lanka, Cook has now won only one of his past nine ODI series at the helm, while going 45 innings in more than two years without a one-day century.

With less than two months until the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, former England fast bowler Darren Gough has launched a stunning attack on Cook’s captaincy, demanding England’s selectors axe the skipper if they are any chance of competing at one-day cricket’s showpiece event.

"England are one of the top sides in the world with the players they've got, but they're playing like a bunch of schoolboys," Gough said on English radio.

"They've got no serious plan, and the player who's stopping us having a plan is Alastair Cook.

"He's a great bloke and I'm not going to slag him off, but we've just lost a series and the selectors keep saying he's the man to lead England.

"It doesn't matter what he's like as a captain off the field – as a one-day unit we're not good enough and he's at the top of it.

"The selectors should hang their heads in shame. They should be put in the stocks and have apples thrown at them.

"It's a disgrace they keep picking the same team. Let me pick a team. Ring me up and I'll pick a team to go to the World Cup.

"We probably won't win it but I tell you what, they'll show a bit more style and fight than the team we've picked so far.

"It's embarrassing watching the same mistakes being made time and time again.”

Gough is not alone in his criticism, with former England captain Michael Vaughan saying dropping Cook this close to the World Cup won’t derail England’s preparation.

“Removing Alastair Cook as captain of the England one-day team just short of a World Cup would not be a gamble,” Vaughan said in his column with the London-based Telegraph newspaper.

“It is a straightforward decision, certainly not the big deal people are making out, and would be in the best interests of the England team as well Cook himself.

“Ultimately it should be a straightforward move. If they sack Cook on Friday it will not have a big impact on the team. It will not set the side back or fundamentally change the team’s approach to one day cricket.

“But it would put a frazzled Cook out of his misery, allow him to concentrate on Test cricket and winning the back the Ashes in July. It would also allow England to pick their best team and not have to continually move players around to accommodate a captain with one half-century in his last 22 matches.

“Using his record in Australia as a reason for sticking with him is hanging a hat on a peg that does not exist. In one-day cricket in Australia and New Zealand Cook averages 35 with strike rate of 73. Hardly startling and does not fit this modern era.”

Vaughan says Cook’s batting technique is not suited to 50-over cricket, and backs Irish-born batsman Eoin Morgan to take his place as skipper.

“Last winter he struggled against Australians bowling full outside a fourth stump,” he said.

“Teams have worked out not to bowl short at Cook. They also bowl spin in one-day cricket. He plants his front foot, using a big forward press, which is fine in Test cricket because it helps you defend, but in one-day cricket it makes you static.

“You can’t move again and force the bowler to change his length. The best players of spin use their feet so they can sweep and cut. Cook can’t do that. He is stationary so it is easy to bowl at him and set fields meaning he will always chew up balls.

“… Eoin Morgan can step in as captain. I know he is not in great form. But Morgan’s highest score last summer was when he captained England in a Twenty20. His best innings on this trip was when he was in charge too. He clearly likes leadership.”