Cook our 'natural leader' - Downton

Paul Downton, the managing director of England cricket, said he would be "very surprised" if Alastair Cook was not England's captain at the World Cup and described him as the "natural leader" of the current side.

England have just lost their fifth ODI series in a row under Cook, and their sixth out of seven overall. That slump has mirrored Cook's own form and he has made just one half-century in his last 21 one-day innings. Downton said the selectors had already discussed the issue at length after the English summer and came to the conclusion that Cook's record, and the need for a proven opener in Australasian conditions, were decisive factors.

England's World Cup campaign starts in less than two months but that view, according to Downton, has not changed. When combined with the way Cook turned the Test team around to beat India 3-1 and the number of impressive performances by players brought in under Peter Moores, it amounted to another strong ECB endorsement for his captaincy.

"He's having a terrible time at the moment," Downton said. "Nobody knows that more than him. Why do we still think he's the best person for the job in Australia? In September, the selectors got together and spent nearly a week kicking the tires and working out were we best to stick with Alastair - given we were going to be playing a World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with two new balls, where his track record is good, where he's been captain for three-and-a-half years; the only time he really had a full-strength side they got to the final of the Champions Trophy and should have won it.

"Yes, he's in miserable form but form can change and just as we saw during the summer, we felt strongly that all his experience, his toughness would come out. Bear in mind he's gone through a traumatic summer in terms of the pressure on him but, in doing so, that dressing room is very much his dressing room, in a way it could never have been before. The amount of young people that we've introduced into that side, where he and Peter and others have created an environment where they've thrived have been terrific. So he's the natural leader of that group of players."

Downton will attend the selection meeting for England's World Cup squad on Friday, when Moores, James Whitaker, Mick Newell and Angus Fraser will sit down to discuss the 15. Downton does not have a vote in selection - although he said he would give his view if asked.

"He's not appointed captain at the moment," he said of Cook. "He's our current captain and he will captain in the seventh ODI. I would be very surprised if he was not captain at the World Cup.

"He's a remarkably strong guy and his track record says that he will score runs. Everybody goes through a bad period. He's not captain forever, of course. But to the specific question: who is the best person to take us to the World Cup? The discussion we had in September, it's Alastair Cook. It hasn't helped that he hasn't scored any runs yet because this question keeps coming up. But I've got to think that form will turn."

With England likely to enter another World Cup in less-than-perfect shape yet again, Downton conceded that the 50-over game had not been given the regard it was due. He said that the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup, both due to be played in England, would have an increased priority.

"The fact is we have not taken one-day cricket as seriously as other nations, it's always the period when we rest cricketers, so that clearly has to change going forward," he said. "We play more Test cricket probably than anybody else. Ultimately that's been the driver of English cricket and one-day cricket has been an afterthought. It's only at global tournaments that people really take it seriously. I've got to change that, we owe it to everybody to change that.

"As I look forward, my role is to say that in 2017 and 2019 we've got two global tournaments. We have to produce a side that certainly by 2019 will go to the World Cup as one of the favourites, and hopefully it will happen by 2017 when you look at the group of young players we have now."

Despite the defeat in Sri Lanka, Downton suggested that "the positives far outweigh the negatives" and that England were much closer to settling on their ideal XI. The performances of players such as Moeen Ali, Joe Root, James Taylor and Chris Woakes have been encouraging, even while the likes of Cook and Eoin Morgan have struggled for form.

Downton also said it was time for people to start getting "excited again" about English cricket after the turmoil of the past 12 months, which included the sacking of Kevin Pietersen and subsequent allegations of bullying within the dressing room.

"We had a massive rebuilding job," Downton said. "We took the view that we weren't going to rebuild with Kevin in the side and that's history. Since then, I think the regeneration has been extremely strong and the way in which our young players came in and kept the whole thing going is phenomenal. That to me is the story of the summer, that we have an emerging England team that will be very exciting for the next few years.

"We made noisy decisions but as far as I'm concerned for English cricket they were absolutely the right decisions and now we're starting to emerge from a pretty traumatic time and it's time for people to get excited again."

Asked about the accusations made in Pietersen's autobiography, Downton said: "There is no formal complaint of bullying at all on anybody's record during that whole period. It's not something that has come up anywhere else; it was a surprise the way in which Kevin portrayed that environment. None of the other players recognise it, in terms of the people who have come out and said what a successful period for English cricket it was.

"All one has to do is read Kevin's book to see how disaffected he was at the time. I don't think you'll ever be able to explain to some people's satisfaction what happened. I can repeat what we said at the time, which was that people felt Kevin had become disengaged from the side and that we needed more from our leaders."

Many have criticised the ECB for the way the affair was handled and Downton admitted that mistakes were made. He also acknowledged that some supporters were left feeling disenfranchised by the ECB's stance - perhaps an acceptance that Pietersen won the PR battles if not the war - and promised that the governing body would do more in future to connect with and unite those with a love for the game.

"I'm sure we could have handled it better - but it's history, we can't change it anymore," he said. "My only driving force here is what's best for English cricket. Am I content that we made the right decision? Absolutely.

"I want to enfranchise everybody and I want them to be part of what's happening in English cricket. I cannot see any reason to be going over old ground because it's actually not relevant anymore. I'm sure I made mistakes at the time.

"I think as an organisation we don't communicate as well as we could and it's something we will in invest in. We must engage with the public more and we must be more open and it's absolutely my intent that we should do."