Over to you, Straussy
Could there just be a tinge of doubt in Andrew Strauss's mind that he did the wrong thing by relieving himself of the captaincy? There was just the hint of a wavy defensive stroke when he spoke on the subject this week. Teams don't miss a captain too much if they win without him. Going missing in action after only being in the job for 18 months might not be the best idea for future life insurance either.
To be fair, with or without Strauss, England were expected to make a clean sweep in Bangladesh as a minimum requirement. The manner of how they did it was of more specific importance. There were all kinds of sub-plots going on to keep the easily bored elements of the press entertained. KP's personal downturn in form was a major worry, mainly for himself, until he got a "fantastic" call from Rahul Dravid to boost the ego. Jonathan Trott was unlucky, but that tends to happen when you are not playing well, and Stuart Broad appeared more interested in petulance than his all-round performance.
However, the man at the helm, Alastair Cook, has done enough to put credit in the captaincy bank the next time Strauss doesn't feel up to a tour of the minor countries. And there were we thinking that picking and choosing which itinerary to pass on was a thing of the past.
Strauss is looking forward to regaining control of the ship, but although he praised Cook at a pre-season event, he could not refrain from a more patronising tone later in the piece: ""I think Alastair has done an excellent job, he has done things his own way, to an extent, which is fine, and he's carried things on." Notice how the sentence starts with a positive, and is then followed by a completely indifferent garble of indifference. Are you feeling a bit threatened, Straussy?
Apart from boosting the batting average, the 25-year-old should be complemented for the way he energised his team in searingly hot conditions. Going on the previous evidence of interviews, vacuous newspaper columns, and, God forbid, his autobiography , it appeared that Cook came from some kind of School of Robotics that made mentor Graham Gooch seem almost charismatic in comparison. So it was a bit of a surprise that, given the captain's log on a no-win tour of duty, he has shown some invention which may have taken the equally unexciting Strauss aback.
England wouldn't be England if they didn't make some potty selections, like a four-pronged pace attack in the first Test. The Essex opener will probably never watch the British film noir classic The Third Man, after his criminal lack of field placing during the Chittagong game. But Cook may have rediscovered something in the last few months which he had in abundance during the early stage of his Test career: concentration.
On the basis that the captaincy strengthens your batting, then Cook should get the job for the Ashes. His record against Australia is pretty miserable, apart from a 90 at Lord's against a hopeless attack and a century in Perth when England were virtually beaten.
Given Strauss's fraught last four years which have included a stint as temporary captain, being overlooked for the Ashes captaincy in 2006, a poor home series in 2007, losing his place in Sri Lanka and then saving his Test career in New Zealand, it seems strange that he put up a vacancy in the first place. It may have given his opening partner a glimmer of the big time and "Chef" certainly hasn't cooked his goose in Bangladesh.
