England’s Three Lions

By guest blogger, Zaheer Haque.

England today made International Cricketing History by appointing three different Captains for all three formats of International Cricket.

They retained Andrew Strauss as Test Captain which wasn’t a surprise as he led England to Ashes victory in Australia for the first time since 1986-87 series. Also he has done great as Captain during his reign so far.

The most shocking and surprising decision was the appointment of Alastair Cook as ODI Captain who hasn’t featured in any Odi since he was Odi & Test Captain for the tour of Bangladesh in early 2010. The England Management felt after the tour of Bangladesh that Cook didn’t fit into their plans in the one day game. He was overlooked for the ODI Series in Australia and the World Cup 2011 in the Sub-Continent. I believe England have made the wrong choice in making Cook Odi Captain as it undermines those who are regulars in the team that the Captain wasn’t chosen from among them. I would have made Ian Bell Captain he has done it in County Cricket or be it for relatively short period of time. I believe he has the right temperament and captaincy would make him an even better player with the added responsibility.

Stuart Broad been appointed T20 Captain is hugely surprising for me for two reasons. Firstly appointing a separate T20 Captain in addition to a separate Odi Captain which I feel isn’t the way England should have gone. I would have appointed Bell for both Odi and T20 Captain. Secondly Broad I feel doesn’t have the right temperament to be Captain and has over stepped the mark a few times in his international career. The captaincy over time will become a burden upon him as he will find it difficult to control his emotions and will reduce the level of his performance.

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