Cook: Warne spat was blown out of context

Cricket365
September 17, 2014

England captain Alastair Cook endured a rollercoaster summer at home, both with the side and his own form with the bat, and at one point the criticism got too much, and he lost his temper, which he says was blown out of proportion.

During the Test series against Sri Lanka, which England lost, commentator Shane Warne was vocal and repetitive about what a poor captain Cook was, and that he should have declared earlier in the first Test at Lord's.

Cook was asked about it, after days of media pressure, and he snapped, saying 'something needs to be done' about Warne and the like. But now, after recovering a bit of form with the bat and with a Test series win against India in the bag, he has explained the situation.

Cook told the Daily Mail: "The Warne thing was taken a bit out of context actually. We'd played well at Lord's against Sri Lanka without quite getting over the line and I still don't think I could have declared any earlier.

"OK, others might have a different opinion but we were seven down and only 200 ahead before Ballance started playing really positively and we'd lost five Tests in a row. If I'd pulled out and they'd got them three down I would have looked like an idiot.

"We were a review and a catch that didn't carry away from winning on a flat wicket and then I got into this press conference at Headingley the next week and all the media talked about was negative stuff.

"It was Ian Bell's 100th Test and I was barely asked about that or anything positive and it just got me really angry.

"So then Jonathan Agnew caught me at a time where I felt under the cosh again and offended because I hadn't been asked about Bell. Then he asked me a direct question about Warne which I answered. But I was annoyed with the media as a whole.

"Then at Headingley we conspired to have one of our worst of all days on that fourth day. I was emotionally low that night and that was the closest I came to giving up the job. I was emotionally raw and in a bad space and I was questioning myself. As I later did at Lord's after India, too.

"But I can't tell you how proud I am to be England captain. I genuinely mean it. The honour that has been bestowed on me is an incredible one and all that I've gone through this year will define me. That sits easy with me now and if it gets taken away from me I know I've thrown everything into the job.

"I could live with it now but I don't think I would have dealt with it too well if it had happened during the summer because I wasn't in a great spot. I came through it, we won that series and I firmly believe I've got more to offer the leadership role for England, in both forms of the game for the moment.

"I feel that stability is very important and things take time to evolve."

He was also asked about his falling out with former team-mate Graeme Swann, who had called for Cook to quit the ODI captaincy during the India series, and Cook had responded that Swann was a 'so-called mate'.

He said now: "What he said was a real disappointment for me. I haven't yet managed to speak to him. It was what it was. I need to speak to him first before I say any more about it. We've been trying to catch up. We will do."