Captain Cook stands down.

[CleggHall]

Alastair Cook England cricket captain stands down. An excellent opening batsman but uninspiring, conservative captain but is choirboy Joe Root up to it?

[Ashingtonclaret46]

Clegg, he may well have been uninspiring and conservative in his captaincy, however, he has achieved quite a lot in his time as England captain as well as scoring a lot of runs and I can see him continuing for a few years yet, unless he decides to ertire from Test cricket.
WHo knows whether or not Joe Root is up to it, however, there is only one way to find out -- let's hope that he is and that he too continues to score runs as he has in the past.

[CleggHall]

Cook - 9 out of 10 as an opening batsman, 6 out of 10 as a captain but has the runs and ashes victories to be proud of.

[ClaretTony]

I won't mourn him standing down as captain but as a batsman he's still without any doubt our first choice to open in test cricket. I think today's news was inevitable once he said he would review things after the India tour.

I doubt Joe Root is a choirboy - he's certainly become a world class batsman and let's hope he becomes just as good a captain.

[bedfords]

Agree with CleggHall although strange comment about Root considering Cook was actually the choirboy.

[Quickenthetempo]

Why do you consider Cook uninspiring? In every test he got called for being defensive the opposition captains were equally as defensive.

He was a brilliant captain in my eyes and opened the batting under immense pressure and remained calm in many cauldron type situations.

Lets hope the media give Root a bit more time and space and not seek to ruin his career.

[JarrowClaret]

His Captaincy record is strange fir someone who sa Captained 2 Ashes Victories and others. on win percentage alone only Athers and Nasser are below him out of people who have Captained England 40 times or more and we all know what a pile of crap they had playing in there teams. There wasn't really anyone else when he took the job, style of Cricket has not been the best and i never really liked his Captaincy style. I also thought the way he dealt with the KP episode I thought was pathetic and a bit weesly. When saying all that though his Captaincy improved especially after Flower moved on and I felt he always gave an honest appraisal and he does come across as a decent guy. I wish him all the best and thank him for his contribution and hope that he will be able to continue playing for England for another 4 or 5 years as he is a brilliant batsman.

[ashtonlongsider]

Must say I'm not surprised by this decision given some of the quotes from Cook during the recent India tour. As an opening batsman, his record says it all. As a captain, I think he's been average, certainly of late and it's taken its toll on his batting. Although Joe Root is our premier batsman, I don't feel he's quite ready to be captain, especially with all the scrutiny attached with it. That said it looks nailed on for the Tyke.

[TheFamilyCat]

I hope the captaincy brings a bit of responsibility to Root's batting.

Gives it away far too many times between 50 - 100 for someone of his ability.

[IanMcL]

Root showed that he was up for it when he quickly brought himself on to bowl, when the skipper went off for a pee or something. Took 2 wickets with the unexpected, rather than do the norm, which was the Cook way.

Cook will score runs now!

[Quickenthetempo]

If Root does get the job the outstanding superstars will be captain for a number of teams.

Root-England
Kohli-India
De Villiers-SA
Smith-Australia