England vs Pakistan: The Ballad of Alastair Cook

A significant portion of the Lord’s members has their head in their hands. The St. John’s Wood elite have a good reason to do so. Their striped jackets and ties with the MCC colours are set ablaze in the private box. The House of Lords does indeed prove to be a good patronage, for the sport, at the very least. Barring the vicious politics of course.

Joe Root held the product of the Royal Mint and smoothened it with the dust and tape on his fingers. Perhaps, making futile attempts to influence the probability of the toss. It was from the Royal Mint after all. England’s new skipper (well, not all that new) looked around. Lord’s wasn’t exactly ‘packed to the rafters’, but just enough for an overcast day of Test cricket.

As the Royal Mint was tossed up a few inches above and beyond a rather nervous Joe Root, the Lord’s members got on their feet. Tucking the odd newspaper away, they awaited Joe Root’s response.

The toss fiasco

‘I think we’ll have a bat,’ he chuckled. Root, in the few months he had been England skipper, Root had used and clung onto this phrase several times. It had won him a few matches but lost the rather important ones.

As he uttered those words, the eyes rolled back a bit. Including that of Nasser Hussain, David Gower and perhaps even Sarfraz Ahmed himself. ‘We wanted to bowl first anyway,’ the latter would go on to state – the hint of surprise rather apparent in his voice.

Behind the mosaic balcony, getting into gear was Alastair Cook. A captain once, and a good one at that. As he began padding up, the odd thought ran through his mind. Was this the best decision from Root? Of course, the latter wanted to assert himself as the so-called ‘rough n tough’ skipper. But that does not win matches. Not one bit

Pitch Autopsy

Sarfraz and the rest of the Pakistan side made their customary jog towards the wicket. A beautiful green-top greeted Mohammad Amir as the likes of Mohammad Abbas and Hasan Ali began ogling the surface. As Rod Tucker produced the red cherry, Cook walked towards the wicket.

As he followed his opening partner Mark Stoneman, he took a look at the grass. Lush green as ever. Many in the haven of the pavilion and others watching the telly began thinking about the number of times Cook would have done this. However, for those looking ever so closely, Cook was in the middle of an autopsy of the Lord’s wicket. ‘Why on earth did Root choose to bat first?’ he began thinking to himself.

At 33, and having batted at Lord’s as often as he did, it would be safe to say that he knew where all ‘the bodies were buried’. The confident Stoneman briskly walked up to take strike. Marking his guard, he was ready to go. His baptism of Pakistani bowling was just about to take a drastic turn. Not just for him, but for the England team. However, his partner shows no nerves. Years of cricket have taken it a bit of weathering, and Cook knows that.

While Stoneman is ready to face his first ball, Cook walks up and down the green top. As mentioned earlier, he knows where all the bodies are buried. For the billionth time, as he had done the billion times before, he prodded the wicket, sinking in the fact that he was indeed batting first.

‘Ah! to hell with it,’ he thought to himself finally as he prepared himself to bat. Hasan Ali, Pakistan’s most charismatic bowler ran into bowl. Cook knew he needed to be fearless. If the ball was in the slot, he was going to throw his bat at it. That bit was non-negotiable.

The final ball of Mohammad Amir’s second over and Cook decides to make it count. He notices Amir’s fingers and the shine and decides to lunge in. The result is a magnificent cover drive, bisecting Haris Sohail and Mohammad Abbas to the fence.

Drip Drop; Never stop

Cook’s antics have taken a new high. In an ideal situation, he would have never lunged into a cover drive this early in his innings. Amir’s outswinger would have nestled into the labyrinth of Sarfraz Ahmed’s gloves. The southpaw had good reason to send the ball to the fence. The satisfaction of a cover-drive as good as it was was certainly not evident on his face.

He knew, in hindsight, at the very least that he needed to crack on. His assertion was reinforced the following over. Mohammad Abbas, one of Pakistan’s new stars gave them something to cheer when he breached Stoneman’s defences.

The wickets soon began to tumble. And, England’s famed batting unit (barring Dom Bess, of course), began to crumble like the feeble cookie. Joe Root, England’s ‘Prime Rib’ of sorts was sent back. A blunder, in my little black book at least. Once again, in usual circumstances, Root would have left the ball alone. However, this time around, he couldn’t resist. Hasan Ali did what he had set out to do.

Cook, however, had weathered the storm by the time the wrongfully highly-rated Dawid Malan made his way to the crease. Faheem was on the receiving end this time. And Cook had raced to 40 in double quick time.

When Ben Stokes had arrived, Cook had been the beneficiary of what many would call, ‘a gem of an innings’. For many, including myself, this was perhaps the best innings he had played. Especially after the turmoil of The Ashes and other such issues, Cook had become the southpaw we all fell in love with. Especially when he braved the likes of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh on a terribly spinning track in Nagpur all those years ago.

Perhaps it was indeed a paternal instinct from Sarfraz to bring Mohammad Amir back for a spell. Maybe it was divine intervention as well, but the ploy worked. Cook’s off-stump woes in The Ashes came back to haunt him as Lord’s witnessed their beloved son make his way back to the dressing room laden with the mosaic balcony.

There would be no more of the classy cover-drives to come and no more gritty and stylish batting as well.  To their credit, Pakistan would capitalize and win the Test match, but for the avid fans, Alastair Cook did indeed have his say. Whether or not Keaton Jennings replaces him for the next match, all the Chef Groupies and the Cookies of sorts witnessed his graceful batting. Even if it was for one last time.

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