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[Gerry SA]

I'd be tempted to hand the captaincy over to Bell (perhaps Prior if looking for it temporarily) if England lose this. Keep Cook in the side without the pressure of captaincy and hope that helps get his form back. If not, at least you can drop him more easily!

Prior can't be considered for captaincy.

In an alternative world, he'd have had 3 consecutive ducks had the umpires decisions gone in SLs favour.

It has to be Bell as captain.

[smilley792]

About time billy was retired.


He's having an absolute mare today, be disgusted at club level with this performance

[csnew]

About time billy was retired.


He's having an absolute mare today, be disgusted at club level with this performance

he's trying to put England out of their misery...wouldn't pay a fiver to watch this England team!

[IWTUK]

Plunkett wants shooting after that shot.......disgraceful.

[FattusCattus]

What an absolute shambles, might be a long 12 months watching England at this rate!!

Where's that thread about Bell scoring important runs under pressure?

[TangoWhiskey]

Cook out as skipper with bell stepping in and moving up to three. Ballance down the order to five. Ali out for a proper full time spinner and Jordan replaced by Stokes. Prior out, someone who can catch in.

[mini998]

WOW , Best day for SL of this series, absolute gold!


Wish there were more overs today to finish this up.

[Sam]

I'd keep the exact same team for the India series but with Stokes in for Jordan and Bell to skipper. If Cook hasn't seen any improvement by the 3rd/4th test I'd put Carberry in instead.

[joeljonno]

Can't keep changing order. Needs to get it settled for a few games.

Stokes took 7-fer I think today, so he must come in for someone.

Give Cook the summer, the team has been let down in the field badly. You cannot pick out just Prior. There have been dropped catches from everyone.

Will need to find a proper spinner from somewhere OR trust Moeen more and get him more overs earlier.

There is still a chance in this team match. It is a long day tomorrow so either England pull a miracle out or Sri Lanka win by about lunch time.

You can say what you want about KP, but he would have replaced Root/Ali or Ballance.

Root and Ballance have scores runs and Ali has bowled ok. Either way he would not have had a positive outcome on the results.

[FattusCattus]

I cannot see Bell as a skipper of a Test side I'm afraid.

He just doesn't seem to have the mental toughness to me, doesn't seem to perform when the chips are down and still seems to be 12.

If we were to depose Cooky I would give it to Prior.

[fasteddie]

Bell isn't a Captain.

The only replacement in the team is Prior.

There is no point in wide spread changes, we did that in the 80's and got nowhere.

Cook just needs a break. He's the best candidate to be Captain, which is why he is, he just needs to regain some form.

Ali, however, may need either 1) dropping or 2) an extended run and to be left alone. He's not a test spinner, but we know that. No point in beating with that stick.

[brokenbat]

Cook is just not captaincy material. Its not a big deal - many of the game's greats made poor captains (Tendulkar).

His approach to captaincy is like his approach to batting - measured, conservative, and sticking to more or less one blueprint. And thats the drawback - when things are not going well on the field, he doesn't seem to have plans B or C.

Matt Prior or Ian Bell are worth a shot I think. Stuart Broad is another option, but perhaps needs a few more years to 'mature'.

But, one thing is for sure - I'd say Cook has to be relieved of the job - he's a great opener; terrible captain. This must be the 6th Test (out of the last eight), where lack of imagination and/or "killer instinct" has let the opposition off the hook. Again, not a big deal - some guys have it, some don't.

[Danny1981]

Just watching the highlights now on 5and it's abysmal. Scarily it gets worse

[123*]

Was at Durham today and Stokes bowled quickly, troubled the batsman with his pace and bounce all day, if he scores a few in the second dig he's got to be in next game surely?

[Manormanic]

I think its important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater at this stage. 

If you set aside the period between lunch and tea yesterday, when Cook handed the game on a silver platter to a team that had otherwise been second best throughout much of the series, England's tally would have read something along the lines of "well, we found a decent opener, a guy who could bat at three though would be better at five and a guy who might give our attack some muscle, and got Joe Root and James Anderson back to boot" which, along with some promise from Jordan and Ali, should tick plenty of boxes.

Obviously, there are concerns - Cook's form, his captaincy and the lack of a spinner being the three big ones.

Lets start with the one that most desperately needs fixing - Cook as skipper.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, his performances have been so bad that it would make statistical sense to get a good club skipper to play as a specialist captain!  All jesting aside, he's clearly overreached by the role and needs to be stood down now before his long term future as a player is affected (bear in mind that, playing as a ranksman for Essex, he was scoring in bucketloads at the start of the season).  A replacement is difficult - if it were from within the current side, I'd be tempted to offer it to Anderson.  From without, since a return for KP is not really on the cards, its rather harder.

That done, question two is, does Cook need to be rested?  I'm 50/50 on this - long term, you'd hope he'll recover form and remain first choice, so I'd like them to stick by him.  Though it is tempting to see how Compton, Carberry or Lyth might do for a few tests.

The spin option is tricky.  I'm assuming that Stokes will return for the India series - he has to really - and that he will either do so as a like for like for Jordan at eight (Plunkett being the better choice in a five man attack, harsh as that is on Jordan who is a decent cricketer) or, more likely, for Ali at six with Jordan replaced by a frontline spinner.  Who?  Assuming Rashid really is persona non grata, and that Monty's escapades have made him an unlikely bet, I'd like to see them go with Adam Riley.  Kid looks a decent bowler, has time on his side and with some words of wisdom from Swann at least might make the grade...