Test batsmen cannot be judged by runs alone
"There is an interesting comparison to be made between Mohammad Yousuf and Alastair Cook, two batsmen who will be starting the third Test under intense pressure," writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
"There is an interesting comparison to be made between Mohammad Yousuf and Alastair Cook, two batsmen who will be starting the third Test under intense pressure," writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian. "They will be judged largely on how many runs they score, but I suspect that both have been picked partly because of other considerations. There are aspects of team selection that some pundits and members of the public do not appreciate."
When a player is in a poor run of form, critics on the outside will always wonder why you are standing by him. The answer is often in the contribution he makes to the team behind the scenes. This is the situation England are in with Cook. The management seem to see him as a positive influence on the dressing room. When some players hit a poor patch of form they can become so self-involved that they do not realise the negative influence they are having on the rest of the team. Others will make an effort to stay positive in public but will never quite put their hearts into it. You can hear in a player's voice whether he really means what he says. It is a rare and valuable team member who can genuinely encourage and push other players along, even when he is on a poor run himself. I assume Cook is like that.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo