When Cook was cooked from Hero to Zero!

What happened to England Captain Alastair Cook was sad. But that is how the life of a Captain goes. When he wins he is a HERO to lose he nose dives to ZERO.

When the England selectors gave this promising and talented left hand opening batsman the nod to captain England, they expected him to lead their game to use a biblical term - into cricket's promised land.

When he was not saddled with the burden of captaincy he made bags full of runs and set up batting records. He was having a roller coaster ride, enjoying not only his batting but his game as well.

He helped his predecessor Andrew Strauss to regain England's lost glory and take their cricket to a new high. Once the Strauss waltz was over, the England selectors shouldered Cook with the Captaincy.

A Captain is born, not made

It was then that his troubles started. It is not every cricketer who can fit in as Captain. A Captain is born he is not made. The Captain has to not only lead from the front and by example.

He has to be Diplomat, Ambassador and above all he is judged by the results. Unfortunately for Cook, he fell into a soup when everything around him kept falling.

In addition being an opening batsman he had to shoulder big responsibility. He had to see his team to good starts by being consistently in the runs. But his batting ran into turbulence, failing consistently and then his confidence deserted him.

With his confidence shattered, his Captaincy began to wane and what was noticed was negative captaincy, with unimaginative field settings and bowling changes and his team fell into the dreaded losing land.

Ashes - the be all and end all

When it comes to the established game it is the England- Australia Test series bitterly contested for the Ashes Urn that is the be all and end all of world cricket. Losing an Ashes series is anathema to both countries and their frenzied fans.

Captain Cook took his team to Australia full of confidence of dominating the Ashes series and continuing their dominance. But they never bargained for a rejuvenated Australian side led by Michael Clarke gritting their teeth to devour the British Lions in revenge.

Australia was convinced that they were robbed of victory in a Test match which could have led them to a series victory when Stuart Brad snicked a catch and shamelessly refused to walk off. That poor play by Stuart son of former England opening batsman Chris and now match referee angered the Australians no end with Aussie coach Darren Lehmann vowing to take revenge when England visited Australia by getting the Aussie supporters to have a go at Broad.

And that is exactly how it happened. From the moment England led by Cook took the field and Broad began his run up, the Aussie spectators laid into Broad and booed them for Broad's unsporting act.

Booing continues

The booing continued in the Tests which dropped their confidence and spirits and with left arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson egged on, firing missiles at their batsmen the England game came crashing down and they were whipped and whitewashed 5-nil.

The pressure exerted by the Aussies was unbearable and also led to their one drop batsman Jonathon Trott quitting after the First Test citing depression and off spinner Graeme Swann jumping ship mid way during the series.

The Brits also failed to counter the consistent sledging and this tactic which the Aussies call mental disintegration set in and the British Lion seemed utterly helpless and toothless and were lambs to the slaughter as they meekly surrendered 5-nil. The Aussies took that victory as sweet revenge

That defeat spurned Cook critics led first by former Australian leg spinning sensation Shane Warne a good friend of Kevin Pietersen who was sidelined being made a scapegoat for the Ashes debacle.

Calls for Cook to quit

There were calls for Cook to quit from former England Captains - Michael Vaughan, Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussein, Ian Botham and some of the leading cricket writers for Cook to vacate.

Then the call for Cook to quit reached a crescendo when Cook's batting form slumped and England disintegrated against Sri Lanka in the 5-2 defeat.

Cook from the time he wielded the willow for England as an opening batsman, he showed the temperament and attributes of a superb player for the established game and what the game is all about Test cricket.

He never showed the penchant of being a Test player. Then why did the England selectors throw him into the deep end as a limited-over cricketer and also as Captain? A question only the selectors who appointed him can answer.

Anderson and Broad missed

Cook's troubles were further compounded with the inability of his two leading pace bowlers James Anderson and Stuart to tour Sri Lanka owing to injury. They have carried the new ball attack with success.

New Captain Eoin Morgan's job will be made easy when Anderson and Broad return. In addition, Morgan can be devastating with the bat if the pressure and the burden of captaincy do not affect his game.

Now that he has had the humiliation of being deposed as Captain, it is not likely that he will find a pace in the England final squad for the World Cup. And if he is dropped he could go into the cruel land where failed Captains are banished to.

With England three times finalists and never ever winning the World Cup and yearning to do so, the selectors had no option but to remove Cook and install Irishmen and left hand batsman Eoin Morgan in the hope that he will help England to hold aloft the 2015 World Cup.

Aussies dominating India

From Cook, Morgan and the England game we move on to the Test playing fields of Australia and Test series against India with at the time of writing Australia is poised to inflict on India 4-nil whitewash on India and bring down their cricketing pride.

At the time of writing, Australia has dumped India in Two of the 4-Test series. Regular skipper Michael Clarke led Australia to victory in the First Test and had to quit the Second Test and the rest of the series due to a recurring back injury.

The Australian medical team has advised Clarke to rest after surgery and are fighting to have him fit to lead Australia in the all-important 2015 World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Smith as good as Clarke

In Steven Smith Australia has found a Captain as good as Clarke and if the form with the bat where he made a debut 100 as Captain and admirably and cleverly led Australia to victory, Australia has a more than useful good future Captain.

Of late the Australia-India Test series has been chockfull of interest, tense and interesting from the time Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh mounted a slanging match and with India refusing to play if umpire Steve Bucknor continued, to stand.

The Indians arrived blowing their trumpets. But after the defeats in the First Two Tests the trumpets have gone silent and if the Australian dominance is an indication, the trumpets will continue to remain silent.

By the way enjoy life now. It has an expiry date on it.

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