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Conservative Cook blows against winds of change

Captain could struggle with Bayliss and England's new aggressive mindset, says Watson

Allrounder Shane Watson has queried whether England captain Alastair Cook is the best-placed leader to take his team into a new era under coach Trevor Bayliss, claiming the more aggressive approach the former New South Wales supremo is likely to develop might be at odds with Cook’s innate conservatism.

On the eve of Bayliss’s maiden media appearance in an England kit to announce their squad for next week’s opening Test in Cardiff, Watson – who played under Bayliss for the Blues – indicated England’s new attacking philosophy might not sit comfortably with their incumbent Test skipper.

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Three months after they were bundled out of the World Cup prior to the play-off stage, England won plaudits and fans for the manner in which they approached the five-match ODI series in the UK against Cup finalists New Zealand.

Their performance in that series, a marked change from the cautious approach they took under previous coach Peter Moores and Cook who served as ODI captain until shortly before the World Cup, has  heralded a new era of England’s under-performing one-day team.

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But Watson has his doubts that fresh philosophy will be translated to the Test arena, and to the upcoming Ashes series in particular, because of Cook’s renowned aversion to taking risks.

“I’m not sure if that’s exactly in Alastair Cook’s DNA to be really able to put a game on the line,” Watson said of the winds of changes blowing through England cricket.

“England have obviously turned things around a bit and we’ve seen the flair they’ve started to play with in one-day cricket which is unfortunately for them a little bit too late because the World Cup has just been and they’ve got another three-and-a-half years to go until the next one.

Image Id: ~/media/51EBA6FE426148B69F26FCFED6C157A4

Watson has question Cook's attacking intent // Getty Images

“But it’s good to see that they’ve moved with the times with how cricket is being played these days and they’re going to have to do the same in Test cricket as well.

“They’ve got the quality of players no doubt to be able to do it, like we’ve seen in the recent one-day series (against NZ), but it’s going to be interesting to see how they try and take us on.”

Watson claims the media euphoria that has accompanied England’s embrace of the style of one-day cricket that most rival nations have been effectively pursuing for years was not altogether a revelation.

“Nothing surprises me over here (in Britain),” the former Hampshire county player noted.

“Positive or negative, they don’t mind going to extremes (but) in the end it’s great to be able to see that type of cricket played.

“That’s the brand of one-day and Test cricket we’ve been playing really since Darren Lehmann came in and took over.

“But I think it’s great that English fans are going to be able to see that type of cricket as well because I think that’s what we’ve been hanging out for.”

In a 13-year international career that has included Ashes series whitewash wins, periods as part of the world’s top-ranked Test and ODI teams, a World Cup triumph, Australia’s Test and ODI captaincy and an Allan Border Medal (in 2011), Watson admits there is a glaring hole in his career CV.

Like every member of Australia’s current 17-man touring party, including skipper Michael Clarke, Watson has never been part of an Ashes-winning outfit in England.

“Certainly, it burns very deep,” he said of the 14-year drought Australia has experienced since last winning an Ashes series on British soil under Steve Waugh’s captaincy.

“This is my third campaign (in England) and a lot of the senior guys here have been through the previous two as well, knowing the pain we felt seeing England end up at The Oval celebrating with the Ashes urn is something that always dug very deep with us.”

The risk, as Ricky Ponting learned after leading failed campaigns in 2005 and 2009 and indicating he wanted to prolong his career for a third crack in 2013, is that the ambition to defeat England at home and right the wrong of more than a decade can too easily become an obsession.

But Watson believes this touring party has sufficient young talent such as pace bowler Josh Hazlewood and his fellow allrounder Mitchell Marsh on their first Ashes tour to balance out the so-far-vanquished veterans of previous England trips.

“It’s a burning ambition for us (older players) but we also have a lot of young guys who don’t have those scars as well so I think there’s a really good balance,” Watson said.

“It doesn’t always happen, turning up to an Ashes series here in England with the depth of squad we have, the talent we have and also coming off an Ashes whitewash (at home).

“I’m just very confident in the team and squad we have.

“Wherever England are at, if we’re at our best they’re going to be doing well to beat us.”

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