Take captaincy away from Alastair Cook - Michael Vaughan urges ECB

The pressure on Alastair Cook never seems to cease

Michael Vaughan has ridiculed Alastair Cook for the poor tactics that he employed on day 1 of the 2nd Test match between England and India at Lord’s and urged the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to consider getting rid of the 29-year-old as the captain.

"We have reached the stage with Cook when he cannot be enjoying cricket. You don't when you are not playing well and the team is struggling," Vaughan, in his column for the 'Daily Telegraph', wrote.

"It is easy for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to say it is going to stick by him but it has to ask what is best for the team and for Cook. The ECB has a responsibility to Cook the person to do the right thing and if that means taking the captaincy away then so be it," he added.

Vaughan went on to talk about his own initial troubles as captain and how the decision to drop down, from opener to No. 3, in the batting order was of huge benefit to him.

"I went through terrible moments opening the batting and captaining the side. I could not buy a run in my first series against South Africa and really struggled in Sri Lanka. It was killing me going to my room at night hating this job," Vaughan said.

"I reached a stage in 2004 when it took a very honest conversation with the coach at the time, Duncan Fletcher, to sort it out," he said. "I am now waiting for that Duncan moment to happen to Alastair. I do not see him as anything other than an opening batsman so moving down the order is not an option. The question should be do you think you can get back to the form you showed on that tour to India and captain the side? Would England miss his tactical captaincy at Southampton if he stood down? The honest truth is I do not think they would," Vaughan wrote.

The cricketer-turned-commentator feels that Cook giving away the captaincy would do good to himself, as it would allow him to concentrate on improving his form with the bat.

"Plenty of great players have had to relinquish the captaincy to carry on being a player. It is not a sign of weakness. It is simply a reality of life," Vaughan said. "I just want to see Cook the run maker return because then the team will be in a better position and he will be enjoying life more."

The 39-year old has been concerned by England’s inability to seize the big moments in the games. They have done well enough to get into good positions but haven’t been able to drive home the advantage on numerous occasions.

"England have been guilty of allowing the opposition back into the game for more than a year. It started in New Zealand, continued in Australia and cost them against Sri Lanka," he concluded.