Warne: KP or Swann should be captain

Cricket365
November 8, 2013

Former Australia spinner, and current opinion machine, Shane Warne feels Kevin Pietersen of Graeme Swann would be a good choice for England captain as they both have shown more flair than current skipper Alastair Cook.

Warne has not been shy about criticising Cook's tactics, especially during the Ashes in England, calling the Essex man boring and unimaginative, as well as one to use negative tactics. Instead, he feels his friend Pietersen could be given another go at leadership.

Warne wrote in the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>: "That may sound like an unbelievable thing to say after all the controversy of last year but I think KP has the best cricket brain in the team. Graeme Swann is good too, as we have seen from his Twenty20 captaincy of England.

"They are both imaginative, good readers of the game and take the aggressive option first, whereas Cook retreats too quickly. He goes very defensive when he should be stamping his authority on the match.

"The tour to Australia will be a good gauge as to where Cook's captaincy is right now. Remember the Kookaburra ball goes soft after the first 30-35 overs. It is then down to tactics.

"England won the Ashes in 2005 because Michael Vaughan was imaginative and proactive. He came up with different fields, attacked with the bat and challenged the opposition batsmen all the time. England will not reach that standard until they change their style of play."

Warne recognised that this stance would not be overly popular, given Cook's excellent record since taking over from Andrew Strauss last year, but the spinner insisted a successful skipper need more imagination than Cook had.

He continued: "You might say what rubbish as it is all about winning. People have rightly pointed out Cook has won the Ashes and beaten India in India during the first year of his captaincy.

"That is a pretty good record. But my point is that if you want to be the best team in the world, which England aspire to be, then you have to have more aggression from the leader.

"I played for 15 years in one of the best teams of all time, winning in all conditions against all opposition. We had some great players, sure, but we also needed a good captain with imagination."