“He’ll make the right call for the team ahead of his own individual thoughts”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
England batsman Ian Bell has insisted that Alastair Cook should be allowed to make up his own mind when it comes to his future as Test captain.
Speculation has been rife about whether Cook will step down from the leadership role after his side were crushed 4-0 by India in their recently concluded five-Test series.
With England having fallen to fifth place on the Test team rankings and Cook having said that vice-captain Joe Root is ready to take control of the reins, there has been a lot of debate about the future of the Test captaincy.
Whatever decision Cook ends up making, Bell knows the 31-year-old will be thinking about what’s best for England cricket rather than himself.
“‘Cooky’ has earnt the right to call his time,” Bell told cricket.com.au. “He’s been very successful not just in terms of the runs he’s scored, but also in terms of his stats as captain.
“We’ll see – it looks like ‘Rooty’ is the man to take over. I’m sure, as ‘Cooky’ has done right through his career, he’ll make the right call for the team ahead of his own individual thoughts.”
Root took over as vice-captain from Bell last year, but his rise to success has had a few hiccups along the way, most notably in the 2013/14 Ashes series in Australia as he was dropped for the series, which England lost 5-0.
Despite this, Root has developed into one of the best batsmen in international cricket today, and his maturity and leadership skills have not gone unnoticed.
“He came into the team and started learning, (then) he got left out (but) then came back in. The great thing about Joe is he learns very quickly,” Bell said. “He’s obviously become a world-class player like Smith and Kohli at the minute.
“He’s always had that natural ability. The consistency has been fantastic and hopefully that can continue when he does (become captain).
“I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before he does become England captain and hopefully those runs keep coming.”
As for Bell, he still hasn’t given up on his Test career. The 34-year-old last played the longest format of the game in November last year, but still feels that he has a lot to offer.
However, since England don’t play Test cricket for another seven months, Bell is currently focused on having a successful maiden Big Bash League (BBL) campaign with the Perth Scorchers.
The Coventry native has already made a bright start as he smashed a brilliant 61 in his BBL debut to lead the Scorchers to a 48-run win over the Adelaide Strikers.
“I definitely want to get back in the (Test) team,” he said. “I’ve been very lucky to have had a long career.
“I’d like to force my way back in, but that’s not really on my mind out while I’m out here. My mind is just on winning games for Perth Scorchers. I haven’t played a lot of T20 through Test appearances. It’s nice to be able to get the opportunity to play in one of the best T20 tournaments in the world with some great players.
“I’m going to learn a lot from some very good players in the next month or so and try to improve my T20 skills. When you come to a new team and you’re the overseas player, you want to start well so it was nice to get a win and contribute with the bat.”