M A I N   N E W S

Lord’s drubbing: British Press wants Cook’s scalp
Rohit Mahajan in Glasgow

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (L) and Shikhar Dhawan rejoice after a dismissal of an England player during the second Test against England at Lord's. PTI

What the Indian team did to England at Lord’s, and what England did to themselves, has left cricket writers in England choking and spluttering in rage.

England’s collapse on the last day of the Lord’s Test, their batting order displaying a strong inclination for suicide, has caused the cricket media to ask for the head of the captain.

This defeat really hurt England. India had a terrible tour of England three years ago, losing all four Tests despite the presence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. The XI that won at Lord’s yesterday had only two men who’d played Test cricket in England before – MS Dhoni and Ishant Sharma.

England lost to an inexperienced Indian team in conditions designed to trouble the visitors. This pains England’s cricket writers the most. Mike Atherton, the former England captain and now the chief cricket writer at The Times, wants Captain Cook to be sacked. Calling for a “tap” on Cook’s shoulder, Atherton wrote today: “This was the nadir. At Lord’s they (England) were granted the kind of conditions they have lobbied for all summer and this against a team who had not won away from home in 16 Tests before this one, and who, before this series, did not possess a batsman who had played in England… Given that, and the advantage conferred by the toss, a 95-run defeat was shocking.”

There was a strong undercurrent of tension at Lord’s – the furious Indians had complained that James Anderson, the England fast bowler, had pushed Ravindra Jadeja while the players were coming off the field at the Nottingham Test. England countered with their own allegation, that Jadeja had stepped towards Anderson in an “aggressive and threatening manner”. Atherton wonders if Indians would call this Karma. “Getting your comeuppance they would call it in James Anderson’s part of the world,” he wrote. “There was Anderson lying in the dirt, spreadeagled and face down, having failed to beat a return throw from Ravindra Jadeja, as the realisation of a stunning defeat dawned.”

Another former England captain, Michael Vaughan, wrote in his column that England must sack Cook the captain to save Cook the batsman. “Somewhere deep down, I believe Cook wants the selectors to step in and pull him out of the fire, before it gets so hot that we lose him for good,” wrote Vaughan. “This is a man with the capacity to score 13,000 Test runs. For me, Cook would be best off taking a six-month break and chilling out with his family.” Geoff Boycott wrote that Cook is at the end of the line; Boycott is particularly upset with the way England batsmen played and perished against the short ball.

“The cricket England played after lunch yesterday was mind-boggling,” the former captain wrote. “India had three men back on the fence, and fast bowlers trying to bounce them out with a ball that was 80 overs old. With seconds to go before the new ball was due, Prior kept hooking away and holed out. It was awful.”

“It is as if England have no direction and there’s no common sense in the dressing room,” concluded Boycott. “Cook needs to go as captain and maybe stay for one more Test as a batsman only.”

Nasser Hussain wrote in the Daily Mail: “Cook needs to ask himself, ‘Am I making this England cricket team a better team?’

“From the outside it doesn’t appear that he is. At the moment the same mistakes are happening time after time, whether it be batting collapses, being bounced out, bowling too short,” he added. “The captaincy doesn’t come naturally to him but it is not something you are going to give up easily, believe me. It is the best job an England cricketer can have but he needs to decide if he is making a difference.”

In these benighted times for England, there’s one former captain, Kevin Pietersen, who may have spotted a silver lining in the cloud. The controversial Pietersen was forced out of the team by Cook and former coach Andy Flower. Pietersen has said that he’s keen to come back and play for England again. “I'd love to play for England again but we might to have for a few things to change before that could possibly happen,” Pietersen said.