“It makes zero sense that there is no first-class cricket going on”: Alastair Cook slams England for their preparation in tests against South Africa

Former England captain Alastair Cook has criticized the lack of preparation of the home side after their defeat against South Africa.

South Africa defeated the English team in just over two days at the Lord’s test and gave a befitting reply to the “Bazball” theory. The English batters have been playing with a counter-attacking approach since the arrival of Brendon McCullum, but the Proteas bowlers made them dance to their rhythm.

England lost the match by an innings and 12 runs, where the batters of the side failed in both innings. The pacers of the South African team took 18 of England’s 20 wickets. After the defeat, Ben Stokes said that they won’t change their approach of playing in the next game as well.

Alastair Cook, who has been one of England’s best-ever batters has also criticized the English team. He has pointed out the lack of practice by the home side.

Alastair Cook lashed out at England’s lack of preparation

Alastair Cook has slammed the English team for their lack of practice before the test series against South Africa. Cook highlighted that there is no first-class cricket going on at the moment, and the players are generally coming on the back of practice in the white-ball matches.

“What is weird is we normally talk about the touring side running into a series with not enough match practice,” Cook said on BBC’s Test match special.

“We always say it’s such an advantage in the first game England normally have in Test series. We’re talking about the structure of the game so much, we’re talking about when should cricket be played… it makes zero sense that there is no first-class cricket going on for anyone to play when there’s a Test match series going on.”

I’m repeating myself, but don’t care: I think Alastair Cook is the just a sublime presence in the @bbctms box. I could listen to him all day – about cricket – or about eating cod with pork scratchings, or hummus and gravy. 🎙 🏏 👏

— Ned 🚲 Boulting (@nedboulting) August 19, 2022

Cook has said that the scheduling of the matches has to be changed. The players are coming on the back of the Hundred and Royal One Day Cup competitions instead of red-ball matches. After playing the test against India, the English team’s players have played just white-ball cricket.

“That has to change. There is no excuse for it. That has to change,” Cook added.