Cook himself feels he may not have fitted into the present England group for the way in which they play their cricket.
“Maybe Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum would have liked to play a different player, or I would have had to play differently to get into the Test team. But that’s fine, because the effect that these guys are having on English cricket is phenomenal.
“They are breaking down barriers of Test cricket, scoring seven runs in an over in a session against a superb Australian attack, which is unheard of,” Cook instructed TOI forward of England’s fifth Test towards Australia on the Oval, which begins on Thursday.
The Ashes has already been retained by Australia courtesy a rain-marred draw at Old Trafford, the place England fully dominated for 3 days. But the hosts can nonetheless make a memorable comeback within the sequence in the event that they degree scores with a win within the final Test.
Cook attributes this distinctive England present, the place they’ve been supremely aggressive in all of the 4 Tests, to the aggressive ‘Bazball’ strategy, the standard of English batting and Stokes’ captaincy abilities.
“The effect of Brendon (McCullum; coach) and Stokes has been extraordinary. With the same set of players who won only once in 17 games, England have now won 13 out of 16. It has been the biggest mental and technical shift that has happened on the cricket field and the way it has freed up the players like Duckett, Joe Root, Crawley is unbelievable. An environment has been created where making mistakes is fine, as long as you are trying to be positive and entertaining,” Cook, who captained England in 59 Tests and gained 24 of these, stated.
The left-hander was a part of 4 Ashes sequence wins, together with two as captain. But for Cook, Stokes’ captaincy has ushered in a change that’s incomparable.
“Stokes once told me, ‘What’s the difference between trying to defend and nicking to the ’keeper and trying to score runs and getting caught in the outfield? Both are getting out’. That’s the way he thinks and he has been able to make his players think on similar lines. I have seen no captain ever having an impact like Stokes. But I don’t want to get carried away because he still has a lot of years left in him and a captain should be judged only at the end of his stint,” Cook added.
All this hype round positivity and aggression from the English batters will face its largest take a look at once they come to India early subsequent yr. Many have felt Bazball is a ‘good-pitch strategy’ and it’s sure to falter on pitches the place the ball goes to show from the phrase go.
But Cook stated, “The England team under me lost 0-4 in India. After that, Root’s team lost 1-3. Yes, they will play in a completely different way this time when they go and they might still lose against the quality of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. But they will have nothing to lose and I can guarantee you, they won’t die wondering.”
Method in Root’s insanity
One participant who made his debut underneath Cook however has undergone a digital paradigm shift in his batting has been Joe Root. A classical old-school right-hander until 2021, the Yorkshireman is now able to play the reverse scoop towards a pacer off the primary ball of his innings in Test cricket.
“Root has always been an extraordinary player. Sometimes I used to get frustrated playing with him because he came in to bat when I was batting in my 30s and in no time he was ahead of me. But playing this new way has given a new impetus to his career. Root has found his method and balance. One would like to think that the reverse scoop he plays is a limited-overs shot. But it is actually most effective against the length ball, a delivery that is rarely bowled in the latter stages of white-ball cricket.
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“So here also, there is a method in the madness,” the grasp left-hander stated.
According to Cook, even World Test champions Australia have appeared “timid” every now and then within the ongoing Ashes.
“They have retained the Ashes all right, but had it not been for the rain, we would probably have gone to the fifth Test 2-2. But at the Oval, England have a very good chance of levelling it, and I sincerely feel they deserve more out of this series.”
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com