5 players England must sack after the Ashes whitewash

1. Alastair Cook as Captain

Alastair Cook lead a successful side for a considerable length of time capping of great performances at home with unlikely victories in the alien pitches of India but his leadership abilities always remained in doubt. Shane Warne was one of his primary critics who constantly attacked him for a lack of imagination, shortage of aggressive intent and subdued nature.

That might be something that is a part of the man’s overall character but it seems like England need a leader like Darren Lehmann who can breathe aggression and confidence into a new-look English side. Cook failed to hinder the downward-slide at critical moments in this series inspite of some dogged performances with the bat. Those too were few and far between.

The last thing England need is to lose their key batsman due to the pressure of captaincy. It might be a wise step to shed a little burden off his shoulders and allow him to breathe a little. You wouldn’t want to see him flee a sinking ship.

He must also take some responsibility for the collective failure of the batting department the extent of which is indicated by the fact that none of the English batsmen except Stokes made a ton in the entire series. The top six run-scorers of the series were all Australian and no England batsmen (barring Stokes again) touched the average of 30.00. The stats tell a grim story, and in this case they don’t lie.