England captain Cook cannot stop simmering debate

By Paul Newman for the Daily Mail Updated: 15:52 EST, 7 July 2011

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He has scored 267 runs in this one-day series at an average of 89 and, crucially, at a brisk rate of 97.80 per 100 balls. He is averaging 70 in seven games as England's 50-over captain, five ending in victory. You could say Alastair Cook has made a decent start in charge.

To see Cook smashing the Sri Lanka bowlers all over Trent Bridge on Wednesday was to wonder whether or not there is anything to which he cannot turn his mind. His run-scoring feats in Australia were Bradmanesque and he has followed the Ashes by hitting another 656 runs in eight Test and one-day innings against Sri Lanka.

Stepping on the gas: Cook cuts loose against Sri Lanka

Yet there remain caveats, good reasons why observers have been grudging in their praise for this run-machine.

Mike Atherton may have received criticism for using emotive words like 'plodder' and 'donkey' in relation to Cook but the gist of his argument was sound. England may be at the start of a new era of one-day cricket but everything they do must be with one eye on the next World Cup in 2015.

I was one of those who said Cook was the right man to replace Andrew Strauss as one-day captain but my thinking was with the next World Cup in mind. If anyone can score runs in Australia it is the Essex man.

Questions remain, though, over whether England are still playing one-day cricket geared mainly to home conditions, and the acid test of whether or not Cook has set them on the right path to a first 50-over cup will come in India and Pakistan this winter.

My concern is not so much over him but those around him, specifically Jonathan Trott at No 3. If Cook is always as fluent as on Wednesday there will be no problem but it remains to be seen whether he can transform himself into a top modern one-day opener in all conditions.

Looking up: Cook has won five of his seven games in charge

England declared their hand by asking for grassy, bouncy pitches for this NatWest series but their pleas fell on deaf ears at Lord's and Headingley, where a pitch more akin to Colombo than Leeds was produced.

That contrasted with The Oval, where wickets have been spicier this year in an attempt to force results for Surrey, and Trent Bridge, where the green, green grass of home was welcoming for England.

The result has been four one-sided games, England resplendent in green but Sri Lanka relishing both the sunshine and the flat wickets of Lord's and Leeds. What kind of pitch will we see in Manchester tomorrow for the decider? Expect spice.

There is a valid argument for capitalising on home advantage but do not expect it to lead to world one-day domination.

An England victory on another green top will buy Cook and the team time. But when they play Sri Lanka in Colombo again, as in the last World Cup quarter-final, will the result be the same, a thrashing for England? Quite possibly.