England’s captain Alastair Cook is going through a horrible patch in his career. His horror run in 2014 came to an end when he edged one to Mahela Jayawardene off Tilakaratne Dilshan’s bowling. Cook, who is facing lots of criticism for his poor captaincy and horrible batting form, walked back sad and dejected.
In the calender year 2014, Alastair Cook played 20 matches and scored 523 runs at a poor average of 27.53. During this period, Cook didn’t even score a single hundred and scored only one fifty.
With these number, Alastair Cook has now put himself in the list of “Worst averages by English openers in a calendar year (qualification: 500 runs)”. In fact, Cook is sitting on the top of this table:
Worst averages by English openers in a calendar year (minimum qualification: 500 runs)
| Player | Year | M | R | Ave | SR | 100s | 50s |
| Alastair Cook | 2014 | 20 | 523 | 27.52 | 71.3 | 1 | |
| Marcus Trescothick | 2005 | 22 | 553 | 29.10 | 79.6 | 2 | 1 |
| Andrew Strauss | 2006 | 17 | 517 | 32.31 | 75.5 | 6 | |
| Andrew Strauss | 2009 | 21 | 647 | 32.35 | 78.1 | 1 | 4 |
| Alastair Cook | 2013 | 16 | 560 | 35.00 | 75.2 | 5 |
Interestingly, Alastair Cook features twice in this list. The calender year 2013 was also very mediocre for Alastair Cook, to say the least. In 2013, Cook scored 560 runs in 16 ODIs at an average of 35.00.
These numbers show that Alastair Cook hasn’t scored an ODI hundred in the last two calender years.
Also, if we look at global picture, Alastair Cook’s poor run in 2014 has also put him in the list of “Worst averages by openers in a calendar year (minimum qualification: 500 runs)”
| Player | Year | M | R | Ave | SR | 100s | 50s |
| Kusal Janith Perera | 2014 | 22 | 506 | 23.00 | 83.6 | 1 | 2 |
| Shahid Afridi | 2000 | 22 | 509 | 23.13 | 81.1 | 3 | |
| Upul Tharanga | 2007 | 27 | 628 | 24.15 | 65.8 | 4 | |
| Bryan Young | 1994 | 27 | 606 | 24.24 | 54.2 | 2 | |
| Nasir Jamshed | 2013 | 23 | 568 | 24.69 | 61.6 | 1 | 2 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 1999 | 26 | 647 | 25.88 | 85.8 | 7 | |
| Romesh Kaluwitharana | 1996 | 28 | 677 | 26.03 | 103.8 | 1 | 5 |
| Virender Sehwag | 2004 | 25 | 633 | 26.37 | 91.1 | 5 | |
| Imran Nazir | 2000 | 27 | 701 | 26.96 | 71.9 | 1 | 4 |
| Aamer Sohail | 1992 | 22 | 598 | 27.18 | 64.3 | 1 | 3 |
| Alastair Cook | 2014 | 20 | 523 | 27.52 | 71.3 | 1 |
After considering these numbers, it is very difficult to understand why the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is still persisting with him. In ODI cricket, Cook has failed to make an impact as a batsman, and his captaincy has been appealing to say the least. England don’t have too many matches to experiment before the 2015 World Cup. But, the ECB and England cricket’s think-tank has a lot to ponder as far as Alastair Cook’s batting is concerned. Cook has looked more vulnerable in every ODI match that he played in 2014.
Alastair Cook is the captain and his poor form will surely reflect on the team, Many former English cricketers including likes of Michael Vaughan and Graeme Swann, have said that England stand no chance in the 2015 World Cup and they have blamed Alastair Cook majorly for this.
At a time when a majority of people believe that Alastair Cook should not only be told to step down as England’s captain, he should also be dropped from England’s ODI squad, it will be interesting to see for how long do the ECB persist with him.
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By The Cricket Lounge
