Look at where AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Alastair Cook lack as captain
In recent days, there has been a decline in the standard of captaincy in few international cricket teams. This might be a surprise to all of them but if you have good knowledge about the game, you will admit that the standard of captains of few international teams hasn’t been up to the mark. Although they have some wins under their belt, it is because of their performances with the bat.
Let me throw in some names to be more specific, they are, AB de Villers, Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan and Hashim Amla. You might be surprised by two of the four names – AB de Villers and Hashim Amla. There’s no denying that Amla and de Villers have been the best batsmen for South Africa and their ability to respond with the bat under crisis makes them the most dependable batsmen for South Africa.
As captains, they have led from the front with the bat most of the time and are top ranked Test and one-day batsmen in the ICC rankings. While their success with the bat as captains has been impressive, they have fallen short in the tactical nous of captaincy.
AB de Villers’s failure to stay ahead of the game
AB De Villers has been the best batsmen of this generation without any doubt. But when it comes to captaincy, he has not been able to read the game and stay ahead of the game in certain situations which has had an impact on the results. Although, South Africa have got the desired results in the last four years in both home and away series, they have faltered in crunch games in major tournaments. In big tournaments, captains play an important role in the game and if he doesn’t get his moves right, the team will certainly be under trouble.
For instance, in the semi-final match between New Zealand and South Africa, South Africa posted a mammoth 281 runs in a rain-curtailed 43-over match. The Kiwis were set a target of 298 (D/L method) and Brendon McCullum got the hosts off to a fantastic start as the Black caps rose to 71 runs in the first six overs.
However, McCullum was dismissed in the first ball off the seventh over as a consequence of a maiden over from Tahir in the previous over. However, AB de Villers didn’t stick with Imran Tahir and instead, went with JP Duminy which allowed New Zealand to rotate strike comfortably.
Also, in that match Veron Philander wasn’t at his best but he was used in crucial moments of the match which took the game away from the Proteas.
In addition, AB de Villers has not been able to react quickly when an opposition batsman dominates his bowlers. An ideal example would be the match against India when Rahane started to dominate the Proteas bowlers in the middle overs. He wasn’t taking his time in adjusting the fields and thereby trying to slow down the phase of the match.
Also, he was little short of ideas on field placements in the slog overs which allowed Dhoni to collect some runs at the back end which propelled India to 307 runs. Looking at what MS Dhoni does against Gayle when he attacks, and also looking at what Graeme Smith did when opposite batsmen attacked, ABD has certainly fallen short in this aspect.
Hashim Amla’s Test captaincy
On the other hand, Hashim Amla too has been falling short in his captaincy. He has been fabulous as Test batsmen, but as a leader Amla can still improve. Although South Africa have tasted a memorable series win in Sri Lanka, Amla hasn’t been able to get right moves.
At times, Amla was unable to force things to happen to a settled pair of batsmen and also sometimes he was not able to read the batsmen’s game in the series in Sri Lanka and therefore, his field placements at certain stages didn’t work out for South Africa.
An ideal example would be the second Test match in Sri Lanka, where Amla was little short of ideas when Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews and Dickwella got going in the first innings. At that point of time, Amla was operating his part-timers during middle overs which wasn’t the right move and also Amla’s field placements to his fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Philander didn’t work out because it was not against the batsmen’s game.
Even though Amla was keen on being aggressive he wasn’t getting the right moves. Hence, there are certain areas where Amla needs to raise his game as a captain which will certainly be important to compete against top teams in away conditions.
Alastair Cook’s lack of tactical approach
Alastair Cook has generally not been a tactical captain. He has been a consistent Test batsman for England over a period of last 6 years but hasn’t had a good record as captain. Under his leadership, England suffered 0-5 defeat in Australia, 0-1 series loss to Sri Lanka at home and lost 15 Tests in a row as captain. In addition, in those tough times, Cook was also not among runs scorers for England.
To point out a few things in those defeats, Cook’s captaincy wasn’t impressive. An ideal example would be the Leeds Test match against Sri Lanka in 2014, where his defensive field placement allowed Mathews and Herath to build a crucial partnership for the eighth wicket and set a stiff task for England. Had Cook got his fields slightly better; England wouldn’t have lost the series to Sri Lanka.
Also, in the concluded tour of West Indies, England were in the dominant position till the fourth day of the first Test match. West Indies were set a target of 438, and England were in complete control of the Test match. However, when the partnership between Dinesh Ramdin and Jason Holder started to build, Cook lacked imaginative captaincy and was sticking to conventional way of getting wickets and consequently the match ended in a draw on what looked like an English victory.
Morgan’s failure to seize crucial moments
Eoin Morgan was announced as England’s ODI captain just before the World Cup following the sack of Alastair Cook. Although Morgan got a short duration to prepare the team for the World Cup, there are no excuses for his lack to capture crucial moments – thus losing major matches.
In their opening game against Australia, England had the Aussies on the ropes at 70 for the loss of three wickets in 10 overs, after which the Kangaroos got off to a flying start in the next overs. England quickly removed David Warner, Shane Watson and the in-form Steven Smith, but subsequently didn’t apply any sort of pressure, paving way for the Aussie lower order to go crazy with the bat in the later stages.
Despite having been given a major look-in by the hosts, England reverted to defensive mode far too quickly. Key bowlers were taken off the attack and spin was introduced from one end along Chris Woakes at the other end. Fielders were placed at the edge of the circle, thus allowing Aaron Finch and Bailey to rotate the strike without difficulty, eventually settling down to make a huge impact in the match.
What can we observe from these four instances? Here are a few cricketers who have been good with the bat but have not clicked as captains. Although Hashim Amla and Cook have been good as U-19 captains, they have not really been able to reproduce the same magic for their respective national squads. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that few modern captains need to be exposed more on tactical grounds and up their thinking.
If their team needs to come out on the top in major tournaments, the above mentioned players will have to raise their game as captains.