'Who wouldn't want to captain England's Test team?'
Alastair Cook speaks to the Guardian about overcoming criticism, his experience so far as England ODI captain, looking back at his Ashes success, his Test debut and more.
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Alastair Cook speaks to the Guardian about overcoming criticism, his experience so far as England ODI captain, looking back at his Ashes success, his Test debut and more.
This Friday, in Hyderabad, Cook begins his third series as England's one-day captain. He harbours ambitions, after England were undefeated against Sri Lanka and India, to gradually turn his team into as formidable an outfit as they are in Test cricket. As the current world No1, with Cook scoring 1,504 runs in his past 12 Tests, at an average of 94, England have been crushingly good in the five-day game. Cook, meanwhile, won the ICC's Test Cricketer of the Year.
"We haven't had our next set-your-goal Test meeting since becoming No1," he said, "but it goes without saying what we need to do next. We always said getting to No1 would show we're a good side. But we want to become a great side. The only way we can do that is by dominating for a very long time.
"The one-day team is at a different stage. But beating Sri Lanka and India, the two World Cup finalists this year, was a real statement. Obviously India weren't at full strength, but they were still a good side and to stop them winning a single game was brilliant."
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo