Top 5 cricketing disappointments of 2017

2. Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook has not crossed fifty in his last ten innings

655 runs at 34.47 in 10 Tests

Regarded as England’s pillar at the top, Alastair Cook faltered each time when his team needed him most. With the inexperience of Keaton Jennings and Tom Westley at the start of the home summer and then Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan – surprisingly, there was a place for James Vince too for the Ashes – Cook, as England’s most capped Test cricketer, had massive responsibility on his shoulders in all the games that England played this year.

The year began on a positive note with two crucial half-centuries in his first five innings, and soon came his fourth Test double hundred of 243 against West Indies at Edgbaston. But his form soon started fading away with failures in the remaining matches against West Indies and low scores against Australia in all three Tests thus far.

It was ten innings ago that Cook last crossed fifty with a highest of 37 since his second double ton at Edgbaston.