LONDON: England’s One-Day International captain, and now the Test skipper too, Alastair Cook was taken aback by Andrew Strauss’ sudden retirement on Wednesday and insisted he had no idea his Test match opening partner was considering not just giving up the captaincy but quitting cricket altogether.
“It’s been a bit of a strange 24 hours for me personally,” said Cook. “I’m incredibly proud to be sitting here now as captain of England. It’s a huge honour for me. I’m very excited about the challenge.”
Strauss was one of England’s most successful Test captains, winning 24 of his 50 matches in charge and leading the side to home and away Ashes series wins.
“Obviously I’ve got huge boots to fill following Straussy. He’s played 100 Tests and scored 7,000 runs. It feels like all my England career I’ve walked out to bat with him. That’s a huge hole to fill and that’s a huge compliment to him.”
The closing weeks of Strauss’s time as England captain were overshadowed by the controversy surrounding his predecessor Kevin Pietersen, undoubtedly the most talented of England’s current batsmen. England have still to get to the bottom of what the messages actually said and so Pietersen remains barred from international duty.
Strauss, asked what advice he had for his successor, replied: “My advice to Alastair is to really savour and enjoy captaining your country and throw yourself into it with everything you’ve got.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2012.
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