Michael Atherton comes down hard on Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook, from 2015 onwards, has plied his trade in only Test cricket for England and has been one of their most reliable batsman in the format. But the last one year hasn’t been cheerful for the left-handed batsman by any stretch of the imagination. In his last 24 innings in the longest format, the 33-year old has only scored 640 runs at a rather abysmal average of 27.82.

The runs include a 244 not out against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and barring that he has crawled at an average of 17.21. During this while, he has only been able to cross the 50-run barrier once. The Glouster-born cricketer is currently playing in England’s five-match Test series against India and has notched only 63 runs at an average of 15.75.

The other issue is Cook himself

Recently, Michael Atherton, the former English batter, came down hard on Cook for being inconsistent. The Three Lions have tried approximately 12 opening batsman since the retirement of Andrew Strauss back in 2012, Keaton Jennings is the latest one. He also sounded alarmed on England’s opening stand since Strauss hung his boots from international cricket.

“There is an issue. It’s a two-fold issue: one is that since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, England haven’t found a partner for Alastair Cook who has been successful and nailed down that place. They have gone through 11 or 12 players now. The other issue is Cook himself, who is not old in terms of years, but is quite old in terms of the games he has played,” Atherton on Sky Sports.

“At the top of the order, facing the best bowlers in the world, I know what it is like and it will get to you in the end. Cook is very inconsistent at the moment, feast or famine,” he added.

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