Sacking Cook before the WC will be disastrous: Strauss

Former skipper Andrew Strauss feels sacking Alastair Cook as England captain ahead of the 2015 ODI World Cup (Feb 14-March 29) would not end the team’s woes and, in fact, could turn out to be a disaster. Strauss, who preceded Cook as captain, said it was time for the selectors to have faith in Cook for the World Cup that would be held in Australia and New Zealand. ‘It’s going to take someone to say: ‘Listen, this isn’t a sinking ship, I’m going to rectify things’ and Cook has got a massive role to play yet again.

We’ve been on his case all summer but he’s got to lead from the front with the bat. I don’t think the right answer is to just discard him as captain before the World Cup, it’s too close to that event now; you’ve got to stick with him but he’s got to find a way of resurrecting his form and setting the tone,’ Strauss was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. Strauss said he doesn’t see any reason why Cook can’t turn it around in ODIs. ‘He turned it around in the Test series by taking a bit of pressure off himself and saying: ‘Listen, I’m trying as hard as I can,  I’ve just got to go out and see ball, hit ball’. I think that’s what we need to see from him a little bit more in one-day cricket. But at the moment he doesn’t look in great form,’ he said.