You don’t drop someone like Alastair Cook: Steve Harmison

English batsman Alastair Cook’s form with the willow in the last one year has been no less than shambolic. The Glouster-born cricketer has over 12,000 runs in red ball cricket at the international level and is considered to be one of the greatest batters England have ever produced. The 33-year-old is currently playing England’s five-match Test series against India.

In the first three encounters, the veteran notched only 83 runs and on four occasions, he was dismissed after he reached the double figures. Quite expectantly, his prolonged run of poor room has sparked talks of his retirement. Cook has flattered to deceive even in the fourth Test at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton. He played out 55 deliveries in which he scored 17 runs.

England batting is still a little bit fragile

He smacked three fours in a knock, which spanned 92 minutes. Unfortunately, Hardik Pandya accounted for his wicket just when he seemed to have a measure of the conditions. Meanwhile, former English fast bowler Steve Harmison reckons that one can’t sideline a player of Cook’s calibre. He also mentioned that England’s struggle at the top of the order doesn’t call for the experienced campaigner to be dropped.

“There is still a long way to go for Alastair Cook. You don’t drop someone like Cook. Alastair Cook retires. I will be very very surprised if he retires at the end of this series. I don’t think the selectors will drop him because England are really struggling from the opening point of view,” Harmison was quoted as saying in an exclusive interview with Mumbai Mirror.

“Not just Cook, but every single person they pick doesn’t seem to get runs. England batting is still a little bit fragile. We don’t know our best line-up. We don’t know how to get 400 runs and if we don’t do that we are not going to win test matches,” he added.

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