Cook: Pietersen best man for the job

By Simon Hayes on August 28, 2008 12:03 PM |

Tagged with:

ENGLAND cricket star Alastair Cook is backing his new international captain and wants to know who writes Kevin Pietersen's scripts.

Pietersen, who was handed the England captaincy just three weeks ago following the resignation of Michael Vaughan, has enjoyed a fairytale start with a test victory and two one-day wins over South Africa.

Cook was full of praise for the way Pietersen has taken to the task.

He said: "I think it's very hard to turn down the England captaincy. It's the biggest honour in the sport.

"Kev's done a fantastic job. Three weeks in and it seems like he's been doing it a long time.

"I know it's just the start of it but he's taken to it like a duck to water and whoever's writing his scripts is doing a pretty good job at the moment. Hopefully long may it continue.

"Kev's a type of character who people might have thought was a strange choice but he's just stepped up to the mark like every other challenge he's had to face. Hopefully he'll be there a long time."

Cook spoke to The Wharf on Wednesday afternoon at the lastest event in The O2's Summer of Sport series, a cricket-lovers delight where he and Pietersen were joined by fellow international players Ian Bell and Luke Wright.

It's a good week to be involved in the English set-up, following the comprehensive, 10 wicket defeat of South Africa at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, and the crowds of youngsters flocking to the venue were proof there's a healthy appetite for the game.

"That's because Kev's come down, to be honest with you," he said.

"I'm not going to take any credit for that. But it's great that kids want to play cricket.

"It's on days like this that you can give a little bit back. We are cocooned quite a bit because of the amount of cricket we play. So days like this one when we can sign for an hour or so, it's nice."

The 23-year-old Essex opener has enjoyed a meteoric rise since making his test debut in India in 2006, scoring a century in that game and establishing himself as a fixture in the England side.

He said: "It seems a while ago that now. A lot has happened in a couple of years but it's been brilliant.

"I'm loving playing for England. Things don't always go your way, you don't always score hundreds and you don't always stay in form. You don't always win cricket games.

"But walking out playing for England, there's no better feeling. I dreamed of it when I was a kid and now I'm doing that. However long it lasts, I've got some memories, though I hope it lasts a bit longer yet."

The Olympics might have grabbed the late-Summer headlines this year, but in 12 months all eyes will be on the latest instalment of the ongoing drama of The Ashes, when Australia arrive in England to defend the urn they won so stylishly 18 months ago.

It's a challenge Cook is relishing, although he's determined to keep focused on the games coming up before then.

He said: "There's a hell of a lot of cricket to play before then. 12 months or even a week in sport is a long way, a lot can happen.

"Anything can happen. We've got India away, the Stanford game, West Indies away and the Twenty20 world cup before the Ashes. It's a lot of cricket.

"But deep down, if you want to win any game it would be the Ashes game.

"That's kind of our pinnacle of the sport and in a year's time we'll have that. Let's not talk about revenge just yet but I was there when we had the darkest moment of 5-0 and we've always been talking about that and building from there."