Alastair Cook’s patience with his arch-critic snapped at Headingley on Thursday ahead of the decisive second Test against Sri Lanka when he accused Shane Warne of making personal attacks on him and his England captaincy.
The Australian has seemingly had it in for Cook ever since he called his 294 against India at Edgbaston three years ago ‘boring’ but he cranked up his criticism of the England captain this winter and throughout last week’s first Test.
And Cook responded to persistent negative comments from Warne on Sky TV and in his newspaper column about his tactics and the timing of his declaration against Sri Lanka at Lord’s by saying ‘something needs to be done.’
Cook refused to bite when asked about Warne and other criticism in his press conference ahead of Friday’s second Investec Test but was more forthcoming in a radio interview with the BBC’s Jonathan Agnew.
‘Something needs to be done because in my eyes I’ve been criticised for a hell of a lot of my three years as captain,’ said Cook when asked for his response to ‘voluble’ remarks, in particular from Warne.
‘Yes, when you lose as captain you get criticised but I’ve also won a lot for England. I’ve won more one-day games than any other England captain, I’ve won an Ashes and away in India. I’m proud of that, so to be criticised for three years I find quite hard to take to be honest.
‘Support and positivity is what this England team need. The crowd at Lord’s were brilliant, the public there were fantastic and got behind the lads. A bit more support like that would stand everyone in good stead.’
Did Cook believe the criticism was personal? ‘Yes I think it is,’ he said. But would a century in Leeds silence the noises off? ‘It probably wouldn’t which is sad but hopefully for the good of this England side it would.’
There is no question to this observer that Warne, a close friend and confidante of Australian captain Michael Clarke and an ally of Kevin Pietersen, has been harsh and relentless in his attacks on Cook but whether the England captain should have responded in this way at this time is questionable.
Cook can only stoke up the fire and increase the pressure on himself by responding to Warne and would have been better off ignoring a man who is undoubtedly one of the greatest of all cricketers but to my mind at least is a one-eyed and repetitive commentator.
Quite what Cook feels can be done to stop Warne is not clear but he cannot expect to silence or censor a pundit who is paid to give his views.
Unfortunately, the deportation of voluble Australians is beyond the power even of an England captain or an ECB chairman in Giles Clarke who complained to Sky about Warne’s attacks on Cook after the disastrous Ashes winter.
Other than Warne and perhaps a couple of other observers Cook and the new England have actually received a lot of support from the bulk of the media and there were far more positive assessments of the Lord’s performance by England and the tactics of their captain than negative ones.
It is certainly laughable for those who have called on Cook to stand up as an England captain and do the job his way to now say he should be picking the brains of those in the commentary box who would seek to undermine him.
Cook said yesterday that the man outside of the England set-up who he turns to for advice is former England captain and Sportsmail columnist Nasser Hussain and it is absolutely his prerogative to seek opinions from where he wants to rather than pander to Shane Warne just because he has been a critic of him.
‘Everyone will have different views on how to get results and I’m doing it the way that feels right to me on the pitch,’ said Cook.
‘We keep things in house but I spoke to Nasser the other day not just about captaincy but all sorts of things. He is a good friend of mine and made some good points.
‘At the end of the day I feel we did a very good job at Lord’s without quite getting over the line and if we continue to play like that I will be proud as England captain.’
What Cook needs most of all to repel Warne’s near unplayable deliveries is to score his first Test century since he last played here at Headingley against New Zealand just over a year ago. And the England captain knows it.
‘It’s crucial I score runs as captain so I need to get back to getting as many as I can,’ said Cook. ‘I am doing the hard work. I’ve just got to score in the middle.
‘I think this run is different to the poor form I had a few years ago because back then I didn’t know where the next run was coming from. The difference now is that I haven’t been converting starts to hundreds and that’s frustrating.’
Sri Lanka want to complete a tour that has seen them win the Twenty20 international and one-day series with a victory that would give them their first Test series win in England. Cook knows they will be tough opponents again but hopes the Headingley pitch will have more pace, bounce and carry than Lord’s.
‘We played really well at Lord’s but that’s gone,’ said Cook. ‘We have to earn the right to again get in the positions we got into there. Eventually we dominated Sri Lanka but it took us four and a half days of really hard work to do so.
‘Yes we desperately want to win this Test and to do so we will need to play good cricket.’
And if they do maybe even Shane Warne will be impressed.
