Well quite the team is a bit bonkers with Jos at 7. Jos is a 6, but so is Stokes. Bairstow is a 4 but wants to keep so is at 5. Malan is a 5 but Bairstow so is 4. Root should be at 3, but prefers 4. So a compromise has been reached.
Cook is probably finished, but has 10,000 test runs so is unstoppable. Stoneman is in horrible form...
And then there is the bowling as I mentioned previously.
Honestly they need to look much more objectively at the team direction and have a coherent strategy.
Under Strauss and Flower you have that.
Under Root and Bayliss we don't
Cook didn't have a plan either other than give the ball to Swann and Anderson. (Similar worked for Ponting...!)