Alastair Cook: ECB hung me out to dry in Kevin Pietersen furore

Alastair Cook said he felt left “out to dry” by the England and Wales Cricket Board over the Kevin Pietersen affair three years ago while his decision to stand down as Test captain was due to the realisation that a new voice was needed in the dressing room.

Speaking for the first time since resigning on Monday – a decision that has left his vice-captain, Joe Root, poised to take over – Cook tackled the thorny subject of Pietersen’s banishment from the side after the 2013-14 Ashes, admitting he had few regrets during his tenure but that the issue was poorly managed by his employers.

“It was obviously a big part of my captaincy,” he told Sky Sports. “I felt like it wasn’t handled particularly well by the ECB. I know I was the lightning rod for it, every person thought it was my decision. I felt I bore the brunt of that, unfairly in my personal opinion.

“As much power as you get as England captain, you don’t have the ultimate decision on that sort of thing. Yes, I was part of the decision-making, as six or seven other people were. I didn’t actually have that final trigger and I felt as if I was the only person who made that decision.

“I felt a little bit let down by the ECB by that one period, where they kind of let me out to dry a little bit. But that’s all gone now. It’s part and parcel of the challenge of being a captain. I can’t say now I have any regrets. I’ve tried, whether I’ve got it right or wrong, to do what was the best for English cricket at that time.”

While the Pietersen issue dominated the first half of Cook’s reign, happier times followed before a bruising 4-0 defeat in India before Christmas left him looking in the mirror for answers.

After four and a half years that featured two home Ashes victories and wins in India in 2012 and South Africa last year, as well as that whitewash in Australia, there was only one.

Calling time after a record 59 Tests in a job he described as “amazing” and an “incredible honour”, Cook pledged to support his successor and targeted four or five more years as the senior batsman in the side and a mentor to his younger team-mates.

“It was an easy decision because I felt, unfortunately, that I was done,” said Cook who, unlike when he was relieved of the one-day captaincy in late 2014, was able to jump rather than be pushed. “Getting on that plane, leaving India, if I was brutally honest, I would have been very surprised if I captained again.

“It’s a job you need 100% commitment to, to drive the team forward at all times. But looking in the mirror at the end of India, I felt I couldn’t. It might have been 95% but that’s not good enough. The last year we played some good cricket but we lost eight Test matches.

“We have stagnated, if we are being brutally honest, as a team. There is a lot of work that needed to be done I felt and I just didn’t have that energy to do that.

“After leading the team for four and a half years it’s time to hear a new voice.”

Asked if he felt responsible for this plateauing, Cook replied: “One hundred per cent. That’s part of the parcel of being captain. You are responsible. With the coaches – it’s not a one-man thing – but ultimately the captain is part of that. The dressing room has been fantastic, the support of the players has been brilliant, it’s just I think that a new voice could help.”

Cook stopped short of making any public targets as regards his run-making but while he will not pick up a bat again until 1 March when pre-season begins with Essex, the left-hander said his hunger as a player has not dipped.

He said: “I really enjoy the challenge of batting and I really enjoyed the challenge of captaincy. I couldn’t give the required level for that any more but I can certainly with my batting and hopefully the new guys will let me lead in a slightly different way in the changing room.”

Asked what this would entail, Cook replied: “You’re not the one making the final decision any more so you can lead differently, you can offer opinions, you can set examples without pressure, in the way you go about your business, how you support guys and hopefully just being a good egg.”

Cook once again endorsed Root’s credentials as captain, describing him as a “bloody good cricketer” whose record commands respect, but also mentioned Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler. While describing them as “left-field” alternatives, it is clear from his words that a generational shift has now occurred and the dressing room is theirs.

His advice to the next captain? “Enjoy the challenge of it. Be open to other people’s ideas as well and get a good group of people around that you can trust. There are a lot of great people out there who watch a lot of cricket and know probably more than you do or anyone does, so use that advice and be open to it.

“You are never totally sure you are ready. Until you’ve been England captain, you don’t quite know what it entails. All I do know is there are a good group of strong, young cricketers in that team who will drive England forward again and I hope to be part of it in a slightly different role.”

If the India tour – one which followed a 1-1 draw in Bangladesh – left Cook drained and, for the first time in his career by admission, distracted from his own batting, it did at least throw up two promising new batsmen in Haseeb Hameed and Keaton Jennings. He now hopes to dedicate more time to those finding their feet in international cricket.

“As a captain, you do try to offer as much advice as you can but you do get pulled in different directions. We’ve certainly found two very, very good players there – and that’s not being disrespectful to the other guys who came in and did their little bit without grabbing that chance – but they have got something special about them.”