Chris Waters: Morgan should get nod to replace Cook before it’s too late

“I’d keep him as captain because we’re close to the World Cup,” said Giles. “It’s important from a leadership point of view.”

Although Giles is clearly entitled to his opinion, my question is this: why is it too late to dispense with Cook?

After all, the World Cup is, as Giles says, five months away – not five weeks.

Professional cricketers are professional cricketers; surely they can adapt to different leaders and different philosophies?

Between now and their first game in the World Cup on February 14, England play a minimum of 11 one-day internationals. That is ample time to adjust to a new man.

Cook admitted after the recent one-day international against India at Headingley that he had received no assurances about the ODI leadership.

Nor should he have done.

Quite simply, it is difficult to see where England are heading under his tutelage and the selectors must be bold enough to make a change.

If they do so now, a new man would have seven ODIs in Sri Lanka in November and December, followed by at least four games in a tri-series against India and Australia in January, before the World Cup starts to lead the side in a different direction.

So, who should that new man be? In my opinion, it should be Eoin Morgan.

He enjoyed a welcome return to form in last week’s T20 international against India at Edgbaston, with a brilliant innings of 71 from 31 balls, and he is the right sort of character to take the team forward.

All will have their opinions, just as they will on the make-up of the side itself.

I would drop Cook and open with Alex Hales and James Vince, with Ian Bell and James Roy as back-up options. At No 3 and 4 I would pick Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance and Joe Root, and base my long-term strategy around them.

I could not understand why Ballance was dropped for the ODI at Headingley, for he averages more than 50 in one-day cricket and can adapt to different formats.

Ballance showed in the Test series against India that he can slip through the gears at a moment’s notice, and for me he would be an automatic selection.

I would go with Morgan at No 5, Jos Buttler at No 6 and Ravi Bopara at No 7 and would pick two of Ben Stokes, Steven Finn and James Anderson, depending on conditions, with Stuart Broad the other specialist pace bowler.

I would go for Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid as the specialist spinner. Not only do I think he is a better bowler than Moeen Ali, but he is also a more-than-useful batsman who is more mature than when he last played ODIs in 2009.