Did Cook do enough on England debut?

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“I suppose the only question mark – and it’s too early to make a definitive judgement – is around Sam Cook,” Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton said during England’s emphatic innings win over Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge.

Cook had to wait eight years for his England debut after bursting on to the scene for Essex in their 2017 County Championship-winning campaign, going on to take 321 first-class wickets at an average in the teens to finally prompt his maiden international cap.

But, as harsh as it may seem, might he have to endure another long wait for his second? Or could his Test career even be a one-and-done affair?

Cook acquitted himself well at Trent Bridge, was far from overawed by the occasion and would be well worth another look, but having taken only the one wicket from his 31 overs of action he far from made himself undroppable.

“I was very impressed with his first run out. He will bowl a lot worse and get more wickets,” his content captain Ben Stokes said after the game.

“He stuck to what he is good at – nagging away consistently and bringing the stumps and the outside edge into play. The ball got soft and the wicket didn’t offer an exceptional amount, but when I threw him the ball we massively felt like getting a wicket.”

It is a ringing endorsement for the seamer, even if match figures of 1-119 do not immediately catch the eye, and were there second or third Tests in the series, Cook would surely get another go.

The issue is England’s next Test is a month away, the first of five hugely-important games against India getting under way at Headingley on June 20 – and with an overseas Ashes series looming in the winter.

This year of all years, England are not afforded the luxury to get Cook up to speed in Test cricket, and there are players likely now leapfrogging him in the pecking order in Stokes’ seam-bowling reserves.

For one, Chris Woakes is set to come back into the fold for the India series – back in the wickets for Warwickshire this week as he returns from an ankle injury – and Matthew Potts, sidelined against Zimbabwe so Cook could get his chance, likely edges back ahead of his counterpart.

There is also the battery of injured quicks who could also return to the fold through the summer or at least in time for this winter’s Ashes – Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Olly Stone and Mark Wood.

Cook, in truth, is not competing with Archer, Wood and the like. The 27-year-old has been picked to compliment the attack and fulfil the sort of role that James Anderson and Stuart Broad so perfected in helpful English conditions – who, in doing so, kept Cook condemned to the county circuit for those fruitful first eight years of his career.

Anderson’s own Test debut against the same opposition 22 years ago is a good case study in demonstrating how Cook did not quite take his opportunity this past week.

The flame-haired then 20-year-old, raw but brimming with potential, tore through Zimbabwe to the tune of a debut five-for at Lord’s, in much the way that Cook would have dreamt of, but that never came to fruition after his early strike of Ben Curran into his third over.

A classic Cook dismissal: operating from round the wicket to the left-hander, the metronomic seamer got one to angle in and then straighten off the seam to take the outside edge through to Harry Brook at second slip.

Cook, on debut, has done what Cook does. Seventy per cent of deliveries on a good length, a good line, and the odd ball nibbling here and there.

He threatened to add to his tally on countless more occasions but the wickets just did not come.

“I think he did fine,” Broad said of Cook’s debut. “If he can be at his very best all the time, he reminds me of a Vernon Philander, Scott Boland type – these kind of bowlers who are really consistent, make Test match batters get on to the front foot and play the forward defence a huge amount. Any time they make a mistake, you’re hitting the stumps or getting the outside edge.

“There’s a Test bowler in there. But he’s an 80mph bowler, and with the second new ball it was 76mph.

“It means he’s got to bowl full effort all the time – there are no spells in Test cricket where you can just calmly hit a length.”

Will Cook get another chance to prove he can be a success at this level? While he might not make the XI to start the series against India, counting in his favour could be the need for rotation among Woakes, Potts and the other quicks – Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue et al.

As mentioned previously, Woakes and Potts are more likely Cook’s direct competitors and, given the former’s struggles overseas throughout his career – his bowling average ballooning to 48.93 – the selectors could be keen to have another look at Cook going into The Ashes.

It was arguably Cook’s proficiency with the Kookaburra ball, on the Lions tour of Australia last winter – 13 wickets across three matches – and for Essex during the County Championship rounds last year where it was used, that finally prompted his England call-up.

Couple that with the questionable injury record of many of England’s seam-bowling reserves, it gives hope to Cook getting another opportunity.

If he does, he must grab it with both hands in a way that he did not quite do on debut.

England vs India Test series ☀️

All games at 11am UK and Ireland; all live on Sky Sports

• First Test: Friday June 20-Tuesday June 24 – Headingley
• Second Test: Wednesday July 2-Sunday July 6 – Edgbaston
• Third Test: Thursday July 10-Monday July 14 – Lord’s
• Fourth Test: Wednesday July 23-Sunday July 27 – Old Trafford
• Fifth Test: Thursday July 31-Monday August 4 – The Kia Oval

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