Joe Root could lead new England era without Alastair Cook and James Anderson

Moving on? England's record-breakers might decide enough is enough
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Tom Collomosse7 February 2017

The optimistic view of Alastair Cook’s departure as England captain is that he is now free to break all Test batting records. Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 15,921 runs is within reach if he maintains form and fitness for a few more years.

An alternative take runs thus: the day when England will be without their most prolific batsman and bowler of all time is starting to loom large.

Cook and Jimmy Anderson have been pillars of this team for close to a decade. Cook has 11,057 Test runs, more than any other England player, which puts him 10th on the all-time list. Anderson is the No1 bowler, with a record 467 Test wickets, placing him above Sir Ian Botham and Stuart Broad.

Both men insist they wish to carry on for a long time, yet England would be prudent to make contingency plans. A key job for the new captain, highly likely to be Joe Root, will be to fashion a side who can prosper without Cook and Anderson.

Because it is just possible that when England face Pakistan and India at home in 2018, they will do so without two of their greatest players. Though neither man appears to countenance such a view at this stage, it cannot be ruled out.

England travel to Australia for the Ashes next winter, with both Cook and Anderson desperate to right the wrongs of the last tour there, when Cook’s England were whitewashed 5-0. It will be their fourth Ashes campaign Down Under. What happens after that? The Ashes remains the peak for England players of the Cook/Anderson generation.

Win, lose or draw, will this stellar pair still have the appetite for humdrum home series against New Zealand, or long tours in Asia?

After the Ashes, these players might decide enough is enough. If they do, England must be ready.There are contenders to replace Cook at the top of the order, with both Haseeb Hameed and Keaton Jennings impressing during their early days in international cricket.

In the seam bowling department, Stuart Broad has only just turned 30 while Chris Woakes has improved significantly.

Mark Wood is a threat if — and it is a big if — he can stay fit, Jake Ball has shown some promise while Tom Curran’s and Jamie Overton’s time will surely come.

Yet the influence of Cook and Anderson, the security their runs and wickets bring, will be extremely hard to recreate when it is gone.

Perhaps this is too dramatic. Perhaps Cook will retain the hunger for runs that has characterised his game for the last decade, and continue well into his late thirties. Perhaps his form, and that of Anderson, will remain strong.

Perhaps Anderson will overcome the injury niggles, including a damaged shoulder, that caused him to miss three Tests last year. Perhaps he will achieve his objectives of continuing to the 2019 Ashes, or even playing in the World Cup on home soil that summer.

Perhaps both men will feel as comfortable as ever working under a new captain many years younger than them who, in combination with coach Trevor Bayliss, will inevitably want to make his own mark on the team.

But as Andrew Strauss, the England managing director and Cook’s former opening partner, admitted yesterday, there is never a perfect time to call it a day.

Any significant departure always leaves those who remain scrambling for quick solutions.

“Most captains inherit the captaincy at a time which isn’t ideal,” said Strauss. “The new captain will at least have several months to get his head round the role before he has to step out on the park. Then he can embed his ideas in two home series against South Africa and West Indies this summer before he has a great opportunity to win an Ashes series in Australia.”

There is little doubt that key figures at the ECB wanted Cook to stay in place until after the next Ashes campaign. That should now be Root’s first tour as skipper — a tough gig indeed, especially for the team’s best batsman, who is a key player in all three forms of cricket.

It is impossible to forecast everything in an industry as volatile as sport. Yet Cook’s departure as captain should get England thinking. He, Anderson and Broad are the sole survivors of the side captained by Strauss and coached by Andy Flower, which won the Ashes home and away and reached the top of the world Test rankings in 2011.

The trio are now in a minority and this, too, can focus minds. Cook’s intention might be to stay on for many years — but then his original idea was to lead England in Australia next winter.

Anderson believes he can lead the attack for a while yet.

But nobody, particularly those around the England team, should underestimate how quickly things can change.

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