Time out for captain Cook after England end tour on losing note

Cook has opted to miss the tour, which also includes three Twenty20 fixtures, as England look towards the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in March and April.

Cook oversaw a 4-1 series defeat to Australia after losing the final game yesterday by five runs in Adelaide. That followed an Ashes whitewash, and after the third one-day loss in Sydney, Cook appeared to be considering his 
future as captain in both formats.

He has since said he is “desperate” to stay on, but said for tactical reasons he would be giving the Caribbean tour a miss in order for 20-over captain Stuart Broad and limited-overs coach Ashley Giles to hone their preparations for the Bangladesh tournament.

“The Twenty20 guys have got their World Cup in Bangladesh and I think we see it as a great six weeks for them to start building the team,” said Cook.

“They’re never together very often and it gives them, and Broady and ‘Gilo’ time, to really have six weeks together to build for Bangladesh.

“I fly home on Monday, and when I get home over the next week or so I’m sure there will be meetings to have.

“It has been a challenging tour for me. I can’t not say that.

“It’s been a real tough tour for me. I am not exhausted, but I’m ready to put the pads away for a couple of weeks or so.

“I will enjoy seeing my pregnant wife. I’ll enjoy seeing a few sheep (on the family farm) for a bit.”

Cook revealed any meeting with Flower, when the future of players such as Kevin Pietersen are also set to be on the agenda, would take place in the coming weeks.

“I’ll just have a little bit of time off and then we’ll start making plans,” he said.

“It’s quite hard to say here when I’m 15,000 miles away and jet lag to come.

“I’ve been speaking to Andy, like you do, and over the next week or so I’ll meet up with him personally and we’ll plan our route forward.”

Despite Cook’s absence from the West Indies tour his future would still appear to remain as captain of the ODI team, despite his own self-doubt a week ago.

The left-hander revealed his desperation to stay on before England’s only win over Australia on tour, in Perth on Friday, and has been publicly backed by his peers to stay on.

Giles added his voice to those in Cook’s corner, adding: “Absolutely. We are standing here and we realistically could have won the series.

“We could have won it 3-2. That’s not all down to the captain.”

England had appeared well set to chase down 217 in Adelaide, on a slow wicket, only to suffer a ninth defeat in 10 games Down Under this winter.

Last man James Tredwell edged Shane Watson behind with two balls left after he and Chris Jordan had been left needing eight from the final over.

Broad and Ben Stokes claimed three wickets apiece in a suffocating bowling performance that restricted Australia to their lowest score of the series.

England were on course at 
154-3 following a half-century from Yorkshire’s Joe Root, but lost their last seven wickets for 59 runs to be bowled out for 212.

There was some drama at the end after Ravi Bopara was given out stumped by television umpire Kumar Dharmasena when Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade spilled a stumping chance onto the bails.

Replays showed Bopara’s foot was in the air when the ball made contact with the stumps, although it appeared he may have recovered his ground when the bail fell off. Victory for the hosts meant they were able to celebrate victory on Australia Day.

Cook had initially appeared prepared to provide the grafting innings required on a tricky surface as he hit 39 from 62 balls before joining a host of other batsmen who succumbed to the wicket and were caught in the ring.

England’s day had began sloppily when Aaron Finch was dropped twice in the first three overs.

The opener, who had twice made centuries this series, did not make England pay as Broad uprooted his off stump with a peach of an off-cutter. Cook was at fault for the first drop when he reacted slowly to a sharp chance above his head at first slip off Chris Jordan.

Bopara then spilled the simplest of chances in the next over from Broad before England took four wickets in the first 20 overs.

That forced Australia into a rebuild for the majority of an innings that England’s bowlers never allowed to find any flow.

George Bailey’s 56 from 74 balls dug Australia out of bother at 64-4, but when Stokes had him caught at mid-off Australia’s tail was left to fight through the final overs.

England were in trouble early in their chase, falling to 29-2, when Ian Bell and Stokes were caught in the ring trying to force the pace.

Cook appeared determined not to make the same mistake but when Nathan Coulter-Nile got a ball to hold up, the England captain pushed a low catch to Bailey at short cover.

Root took over Cook’s diligence and with Eoin Morgan combined in a match-high 63-run stand.

But when they both fell in quick succession, England lurched from 154-3 into yet another crisis.

Jos Buttler picked out deep square leg off Coulter-Nile, before Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan was run out by Glenn Maxwell’s direct hit.

Stuart Broad was bowled by Clint McKay and then Bopara’s misfortune left it to the last pair, who were unable to finish the job.

Earlier, Australia had crawled along early on after Broad took two of the four early wickets to fall.

Bailey pieced together the rebuild first in a 48-run stand with Maxwell and then a 55-run partnership with Matthew Wade.

But just as they would have looked to accelerate England removed both in the space of 12 balls.

Bailey dragged a drive to Broad at mid-on, who then bowled Wade behind his legs as he tried to make room.

Australia’s late hitting was therefore left to their tail, and while Faulkner and Coulter-Nile tried to lift the tempo, they both perished consecutively to Jordan in the 
final over.