‘England has been chasing their tail’ – Alastair Cook opens up on the Three Lions’ rotation policy

‘England has been chasing their tail’ – Alastair Cook opens up on the Three Lions’ rotation policy

Alastair Cook

The England team adopted a rotation policy with the onslaught of the pandemic and former England skipper Alastair Cook finds it unsettling. While the Three Lions were in great form coming into the series against India and that is where everything fell apart for them. Following an impressive win in the first Test, England lost the next three to concede a place in the WTC final.

The horrible showing was the result of the management’s policy of resting key players. Following the debacle in India, they lost the two match Test series at home to New Zealand which has led to a huge uproar. Cook asserts that the experienced players cannot be replaced and attempting to pull it off has cost the English side.

“You have to say it hasn’t worked for Rooty, and I do genuinely feel sorry for him. When you’re playing for England, or you’re the captain, coach, or selector, you get judged on end results most of the time and he hasn’t had his best players available. You can’t buy the experience of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali — those kind of players make a big difference,” said Alastair Cook, who was taking part in Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week.

“The decisions don’t seem like they’ve been made correctly,” Alastair Cook

England Cricket Team, Eng vs NZ
England Cricket Team

Alastair Cook, England’s top Test run scorer, feels that the decision to follow the controversial policy was one made in haste. He admits that it is easy to blame those in charge but one cannot ignore the fact that the rotation policy has led to slump in the team’s performances off late.

He further added: “I’ve never had to captain during a pandemic — I didn’t even know what a pandemic was when I was captain — but you’ve got a Test captain who hasn’t been able to play his best side. The decisions don’t seem like they’ve been made correctly.”

“I’ve been on the other side, where you’re trying to make decisions for the right reasons, but you get judged on your results by it, don’t you? It was going so well, winning the Test series at home, then Sri Lanka away and 1-0 up against India. Then you rest and rotate players, and ever since that moment on it’s been chasing their tail a little bit.”

England will take on India in a Test series at home next. Cook warned against any drastic changes to the top order which features Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence. Many experts have asserted that the consistent chopping and changing in the side has been the key to their undoing.

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