“He’s given me no indication that is his line of thinking at the moment”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) director Andrew Strauss has revealed that Alastair Cook has not given him any signs that he will step down as captain after the ongoing five-Test tour of India.

Speculation about Cook’s interest in giving up the captaincy became rife after he told The Cricketer magazine: “Deep down I don’t know how much longer I am going to carry on. It could be two months, it could be a year.”

Cook has since played down those comments, and Strauss has insisted that the 31-year-old is happy to continue leading his country in the longest format of the game.

“He’s given me no indication that is his line of thinking at the moment,” Strauss said. “One thing we’ve consistently done is find time at the end of series to have a conversation about what direction the team is going in, what challenges there are, and for him personally how much the captaincy is taking out of him.

“We’ve done that a couple of times, and it is guaranteed we’ll have a similar conversation at the end of this series.

“Every indication he has given me is he is driven, he’s passionate, he’s motivated, he’s loving this environment – and he’s excited about some of the young players coming through.

“From what I’ve seen, he is in a really good place. I think he is very comfortable leading this team, as he has been for a while now, so it probably takes less out of him than it used to. He’s batting well, which is a big part of it, and he’s still young. It is quite scary how young he is really, and I have every faith that he will carry on past this series and into the summer.

“Alastair has still got a lot of cricket left in him whether he is captain or not, in my opinion.”

Strauss also made it clear that Eoin Morgan would continue to hold the title of England’s ODI captain even though he opted out of their recent tour of Bangladesh due to security concerns. Opening batsman Alex Hales was the other player that pulled out of the tour for the same reason.

Despite admitting that he was disappointed with Morgan’s decision to withdraw from the Bangladesh tour, Strauss confirmed that the 30-year-old will be in charge for the ODI series against India in January.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t take a full squad out to Bangladesh,” Strauss said. “But if I’m honest we’ve moved on and it is right to move on. That was a tour that could have derailed us and undermined a lot of the good work that has gone on. I’m confident it hasn’t done that and that is a relief.

“We told the players there wouldn’t be any recriminations for pulling out and when I look back on it I am very grateful that the vast majority of the team thought it was the right thing to do. Those that did go probably strengthened their opinions that it was the right thing to do.

“I stand by what I said and there is every reason to expect Eoin Morgan will come back in as captain against India. He’s done a great job with the one-day team over the last 18 months and it has been a phenomenal transformation. He has to take a lot of credit for that and we look forward to him continuing that.”