All posts tagged: Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook has a go at Kevin Pietersen for asking Jacob Bethell to stay in IPL

Alastair Cook has a go at Kevin Pietersen for asking Jacob Bethell to stay in IPL

Published by Webster

3 min readMay 6, 2026 07:22 PM IST Jacob Bethell finds himself in the middle of a spat between two of England’s greatest batters without actually uttering a word himself. And surprise, surprise! It’s got to do with the IPL. During the first few weeks of the tournament when the young England left-hander constantly sat on the bench for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, former captain Alastair Cook opined that Bethell would be better served by returning home and playing some county cricket to be in the best position to perform well for England when they play Test cricket next. Bethell famously scored a century in Sydney during the ill-fated Ashes tour. It’s the last Test the team has played. Never the favourite child of the English cricket establishment, Pietersen countered that Bethell would benefit by being around some of the best players in the world and learning from them, even if he was not playing. For good measure, he added that Cook has “absolutely no idea what it’s like to be in the IPL.” That was …

Alastair Cook has a go at Kevin Pietersen for asking Jacob Bethell to stay in IPL

Jos Buttler, Stuart Broad back Jacob Bethell in IPL after Alastair Cook criticism: ‘Times have changed’ | Cricket News

Published by Webster

3 min readApr 30, 2026 06:42 PM IST England stars Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad have backed Jacob Bethell’s decision to remain with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, arguing that the modern game has changed and that the youngster can still benefit enormously from being in the tournament even without regular game time. Bethell’s situation has sparked debate in England after former captain Alastair Cook suggested the left-hander would be better served returning home to play county cricket rather than staying on the bench in India. That stance was strongly challenged by Kevin Pietersen, who argued that critics underestimate the value of being part of an IPL setup. Pietersen said training alongside elite players, working with world-class coaches and learning in a high-pressure environment could be just as beneficial for a young cricketer as county appearances. Buttler sided firmly with that argument, saying those who have not experienced the IPL often fail to understand what it offers. “I think unless you’ve played in the IPL and been here and experienced it, it’s very difficult …

Alastair Cook expresses interest in being Brendon McCullum’s assistant coach at England: ‘You need a variety of different people’ | Cricket News

Alastair Cook expresses interest in being Brendon McCullum’s assistant coach at England: ‘You need a variety of different people’ | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Alastair Cook has said that he would consider joining the England Test team’s coaching staff if he is given the offer, just days after former England captain Michael Atherton floated the idea of him becoming Brendon McCullum’s assistant coach. The suggestion, and Cook’s subsequent admission, has come in the flurry of opinions that have cropped up since the end of the 2025/26 Ashes, which England lost 4-1. Cook wrote in his colum for The Times that he had never thought of going into coaching but is now thinking about it after Atherton’s piece for the paper. “I can’t say that I’m not excited about the possibility of potentially getting involved, but I certainly haven’t had any contact from England,” wrote Cook in his column. “Ultimately if McCullum stays it has got to be up to him who he wants in his backroom team and he has to pick who he thinks are the best coaches around. I do think, though, that in any team you need a variety of different people and there has been …

Alastair Cook slams MCG pitch after England win Boxing Day Test match in 2 days against Australia

Alastair Cook slams MCG pitch after England win Boxing Day Test match in 2 days against Australia

Published by Webster

Former England captain Alastair Cook slammed the pitch that was used for the 2025-26 Ashes Test at Melbourne, calling it ‘sub-standard’ and citing how batters like Joe Root and Steve Smith had found it hard to bat on that surface. He added that the MCG pitch had become livelier after he made 244 in the Boxing Day Test match in 2017. “There has been a lot of comment about batting techniques and how players batted on this surface. But I think the pitch was sub-standard, and it became an absolute lottery. International bowlers don’t need very much assistance, and when they get as much as they did here, it becomes almost impossible.” “We saw two modern greats of the game — Root and Steve Smith — really struggling to score runs convincingly. Root tried to gut it out, but in the first innings made a 15-ball duck and barely laid a bat on it, whereas Harry Brook played in his usual adventurous style and made 41, which was an important innings.” “It was after I …

‘They drew India who then got thumped by South Africa’: Alastair Cook slams McCullum and Stokes for ‘massive disconnect’ with County cricket | Cricket News

‘They drew India who then got thumped by South Africa’: Alastair Cook slams McCullum and Stokes for ‘massive disconnect’ with County cricket | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Former England captain Alastair Cook has said that the team management has to address what he calls a “massive disconnect” between the side and the country’s domestic County circuit. Cook, speaking on TNT Sports at Lunch on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test in the Ashes, said that England under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have stopped rewarding good performances in County cricket, which needs to be addressed. “They started off with a bang, Key (England team managing director Rob Key), McCullum and Stokes but since then it has gone downhill,” said Cook about the start that the current management had in which they didn’t lose all seven of their first seven Test series, winning five of them. England’s first series loss in the Stokes-McCullum regime was a 4-1 defeat away to India. In fact, the current management have only lost one more series apart from that, which was away from home to Pakistan earlier this year. That defeat was then followed by a remarkable 2-1 series win in New Zealand, followed …

‘Some home truths are going to be said to players’: Alastair Cook reacts to England going 2-0 down in 2025-26 Ashes series | Cricket News

‘Some home truths are going to be said to players’: Alastair Cook reacts to England going 2-0 down in 2025-26 Ashes series | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook has said that England’s current situation in the 2025-26 Ashes series must make captain Ben Stokes drill some “home truths” into the players. The former opening batter spoke about how angry Stokes looked after losing the second Test match, adding that he cannot deliver for the side in pressure situations all the time. “I think for the first time in his captaincy career, some home truths are going to be said to players. Whether he does that publicly in the group as a changer or individually, he’s had enough of seeing his players not performing to their potential. And you can see that was anger,” Cook said on TNT Sports. “He delivers goods all the time, and he’s seeing others; he can’t do it every single moment. That’s impossible,” he added. The former left-hander admitted that Stokes was now hoping for other batters to stand up and be counted, adding that it was the captain who bore the brunt of defeats more than others in the team. “He wants …

I remember thinking, ‘I just don’t see a way out of this’: Former England pacer Steven Finn on mental struggles amid 2014 Australia tour | Cricket News

I remember thinking, ‘I just don’t see a way out of this’: Former England pacer Steven Finn on mental struggles amid 2014 Australia tour | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Steve Finn took 125 wickets in the 36 Tests that he played for England, eventually retiring in 2023. He had played in seven Ashes Tests, with the first of those coming in the 2010 series. The 36-year-old has had his share of ups and downs, including being once sent home by the England team management from the white-ball internationals in the Australia tour in 2014 after being termed as ‘ not selectable’ by England’s limited overs head coach Ashley Giles. The former England bowler has opened up on how that tour took a toll on him mentally and how his sending off was ‘clumsy’. “I remember being in Perth and feeling at my wits’ end. I remember thinking, ‘I just don’t see a way out of this,’ and I wasn’t willing to voluntarily walk away from it, even more so given the reception that the guys who had left the tour (Jonathan Trott and, eventually, Graeme Swann would leave prematurely) received, even if it would have been kinder on myself to do so. I was …

Cricket Recap: The best moments of the sport that have unfolded in 2024 | Cricket News

Cricket Recap: The best moments of the sport that have unfolded in 2024 | Cricket News

Published by Webster

The cricket that was played this year constantly oscillated between ecstasy and heartbreak. With teams experiencing both triumphs and defeats, prominent players going unsold at the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, and the shortest format of the game undergoing a revolution, this action-packed year of enthralling games comes to an end. But what made this year so fascinating? Rise of the underdogs Everybody roots for the underdogs, and when you are a team that has been steadily rising in the ranks, the appreciation only grows. Afghanistan at the Cricket World Cup 2023 showed the nations that they would soon be a force to reckon with as they finished sixth on the table, preceding defending champions England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands. Come 2024, their start to the year was a little rocky. They lost the first two series against India and Sri Lanka, both being dominant victories for the opposing teams. However, there was no looking back from there for Afghanistan as they registered notable performances, enjoying their best year in international cricket. They reached …

Alastair Cook on Australia’s vulnerable top order: ‘There’s an air of uncertainty’ | Cricket News

Alastair Cook on Australia’s vulnerable top order: ‘There’s an air of uncertainty’ | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Former England captain Alastair Cook senses an “air of uncertainty” in Australia’s top order in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the Perth Test, Australia handed debut to Nathan McSweeney, who has hardly opened in the first-class cricket, and looked all at sea against Indian pacers. Senior pro Usman Khawaja, who will turn 38 in a couple of weeks time managed only 4 & 8. Australia’s No 3 Marnus Labuschagne also failed in both the innings. “There is an air of uncertainty about their top order, which is unusual,” Cook said on TNT Sports. “Normally you expect, you know, how many runs has Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne has scored against England in the past? I will throw something in there, which is they’re only 1-0 down in a series.” Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne gestures as he leaves the field after losing his wicket on the first day of the first cricket test between Australia and India in Perth, Australia. (AP) Former England captain Alastair Cook says India certainly have that edge over Australia with Jasprit Bumrah …

When wickets become tougher and they need to adapt, not sure this group is good enough: Alastair Cook after England’s 1st ODI loss to West Indies | Cricket News

When wickets become tougher and they need to adapt, not sure this group is good enough: Alastair Cook after England’s 1st ODI loss to West Indies | Cricket News

Published by Parlour News

Former England captain Alastair Cook on Thursday said that the England team which went down by 8 wickets to West Indies were not good enough whenever there’s no belting wickets on offer. “With England’s batting in all three formats, on belting wickets they are absolutely brilliant and you can’t stop them scoring. When it becomes tougher and they need to adapt, I’m not sure at the minute that this group are good enough – taking Root out of it,” he said on TNT Sports. “He is a class above in terms of adjusting. Everyone else needs to find a way to adapt better,” he added praising Root. In the match, the West Indies cruised to an eight-wicket victory over an experimental England side in Antigua on Thursday in the rain-affected opener of their One-Day International series. A week after the test team slumped to a series defeat in Pakistan, England named four ODI debutants for the first of three matches against the West Indies, and their rookie line-up laboured to a disappointing 209 all out …