Graham Gooch has done everything in his power to give little Essex star Alastair Cook his batting mojo.
He hasn’t asked him to get fat or put on a hilarious moustache, but he has got him standing taller, getting his twitchy footwork done earlier and playing straighter.
For all that training Cook’s front foot is still in the air as the bowler lets go, he still wafts with a slanted bat at wide ones, and plays at ball he doesn’t have to.
Today he nicked one that was dropped, then nicked another one and buggered off.
I think Gooch was a terrific player, and for all i know he could be the Vince Lombardi of batting coaches, but something isn’t right here.
Is turning Cook into a bastardised version of himself really going to help?
In no way is Cook’s normal batting anything like Gooch’s, so why shape him that way.
Surely there is a way to change his technique without moulding it onto one that is the polar opposite.
It reminds me of the whole Cameron White coaching fiasco, where Terry Jenner tried to make him more Shane Warne like and now he bowls like Shane Warne would if he had Polio.
Cook is a back foot player, one who takes half a step forward, who nudges off his hip alot and plays the pull shot well. Plus, you know, left handed.
Other than Michael Slater I can’t think of many players from the last generation less like Cook than Gooch.
In other news, South Africa batted today, I can tell because I woke up on the couch.
