Brentwood Sport
Alec: Cook can be England captain
11:47am Thursday 15th July 2010
ALEC Stewart is adamant Alastair Cook will become England’s full-time captain – but has warned he will have to wait patiently before being handed the honour.
The 25-year-old Essex opener became England’s youngest Test captain since 1980 and fifth youngest of all-time during the two-Test series with Bangladesh in March.
Cook took over from regular skipper Andrew Strauss – who was being rested at the time – but was not overawed, smashing 342 runs and two centuries in a comfortable 2-0 win.
Strauss has since been welcomed back, leading England to a comfortable Test series win over Bangladesh at home, while Cook recently cut his captaincy teeth with the second-string Lions.
And Stewart – the former England captain and holder of 133 Test and 170 one-day caps – while praising Cook’s captaincy, admits the Essex batsman may have to wait at least three years to follow his lead.
“Alastair could possibly become the full-time Test captain – it is difficult to say because I don’t see Andrew Strauss retiring just yet,” said Stewart.
“Andrew is doing a fantastic job at the moment, but Alastair did nothing wrong at all during the series against Bangladesh earlier in the year.
“People will say it was only Bangladesh, but again I don’t care – he still performed with the bat and as a captain and he deserves praise for doing that.
“Andrew is still young, still scoring runs and we are talking, I don’t know, three years, possibly even longer, that he has left, but at the same time he appreciated that captaining is hard work.”
Cook has been a regular face in the England Test team ever since scoring a century on debut against India in March in 2006 – amassing 4,197 runs at an average of just over 44.
And Stewart – England’s most capped Test cricketer of all-time – believes if Cook can maintain his standing in the team then the captaincy will be his.
“His name will be in the hat and Alastair has just got to make sure he keeps scoring runs at the top of the order and make sure he is a player that is always picked in that team,” he added.
“And if he is picked in that, which in my eyes he will be, then he has got every chance of going on to be the captain.
“This summer is vital from an England point of view and everyone has to see the success they have had from the winter through to the start of this summer.
“Success breeds confidence and a confident side plays a lot better than a side that is losing and that is unsure of themselves.”
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