Thaindian News

London, May 5 (IANS) Opening batsman Alastair Cook was appointed England’s new One-day International captain following Andrew Strauss’s retirement from the shorter version to focus on the Test captaincy.

England all-rounder Stuart Broad is England Twenty20 skipper, taking over from Paul Collingwood, who piloted England to a seven-wicket victory over Australia in the ICC World Twenty20 final last May.

Cook, 26, has played in just three ODIs since November 2008. He led England’s victorious tour of Bangladesh in 2010 when Strauss was rested.

Strauss’s decision was not surprising after England’s disappointing performance in the World Cup.

“I have enjoyed my time as England One-day captain immensely and I am extremely proud of the strides we’ve made in limited-overs cricket over the past two years,” Strauss, 34, said.

“We still have a long way to go if we are to achieve our goal of winning ICC global events and I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and ensure someone else takes up that challenge.”

Strauss, who has been the ODI captain for the past two years, said England leadership is in right hands.

“I look forward to working closely with both Alastair and Stuart as we work together to progress England’s development across all forms of the game. Both Alastair and Stuart are proven world-class cricketers and both have outstanding leadership qualities which will ensure England’s success for many years to come,” he said.

“Retiring from One-day cricket will also enable me to focus solely on the Test captaincy and our ongoing development in the Test arena as we strive to be the top-ranked team in world cricket.”

Cook was the outstanding batsman during their 2010 Ashes success in Australia when he scored 766 runs, but he was not included in the squad for the subsequent One-day series against Australia or the World Cup.

The Essex batsman, who made his Test debut in 2006, played in only 65 Tests, 26 ODIs and four Twenty20 internationals. His only ODI century came against India in 2007.

However, he impressed as stand-in skipper in Bangladesh last year, scoring 64, 60 and 32 during 3-0 ODI series win and hit centuries in both Tests to guide England to a 2-0 victory.

“Andrew Strauss has led the One-day team to continued success over the past two years and I’ll be looking to continue that progress as captain. I’m excited by the challenge of taking our 50-over cricket to new heights and I believe I can play an integral role with the bat as well as captain,” Cook said.

“I’ve worked hard on my limited-overs cricket in recent times — I’ve never seen myself as a Test batsman exclusively and I know I have a lot to offer strategically and as a top-order batsman in one-day cricket.”