BIRMINGHAM: England captain Alastair Cook said he will carry on as England one-day captain despite the latest humiliating defeat at the hands of India and with the World Cup just five months away.

“I’m still hungry to do it. If the management say they don’t want me, that’s a decision they make, 29-year-old Cook told BBC Radio on Wednesday. “The frustrating thing is that every side I seem to play in for England, there’s a question about my place. That’s a hard place to work from.”

Tuesday’s nine-wicket hammering at Edgbaston was the latest of three heavy defeats and gave India the series win. Ex-players such as Graeme Swann are calling for him to step down as one-day skipper.

Cook’s position as Test captain came under scrutiny when India took a 1-0 lead in the that series earlier in the summer, only for England to complete a 3-1 victory.

“I went from 1-0 down to 3-1. It changes very quickly in sport. My credibility is not for me to comment on,” said opening batsman Cook whose 2014 average in 13 one-day games is 29.8. “I know I have to score more runs,” said Cook. “I’ve done that in the past and I will in the future.

“I’ve had three-and-a-half years of one-day captaincy experience. We’ve done some really good stuff in that time, but we’re having a heavy blip at the moment.”

The latest heavy defeat by India came after the hosts were bowled out for only 206 at Edgbaston, with the tourists chasing down their target with 117 balls to spare.

Cook took charge of the One-day International side in 2011, leading England to the top of the ODI world rankings in 2012. But England have lost nine of their last 12 completed ODIs under Cook’s captaincy against Test-playing nations.

The final game at Headingley on Friday is England’s last home ODI before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which begins in February.

“The players have to look at themselves and turn it around. The guys are hungry to succeed, we’re just not delivering at the moment. If anyone thinks their place is safe, then they are wrong.”

Tuesday’s defeat saw England suffer a fifth loss in their last six ODI series.

England only have a diet of limited overs cricket between now and the start of the World Cup.

But their chances of lifting the trophy for the first time in what will be 40 years’ of trying look as remote as they have since they made the last of their three losing appearances in the final in 1992 — the only previous occasion when the tournament was staged ‘Down Under’.

Swann recently urged Cook to quit one-day cricket and concentrate solely on Tests.

But Cook, whose nine on Tuesday meant he has gone 38 innings without an ODI hundred, faced similar calls to stand down as Test skipper from half-a-dozen former England captains earlier in the season.

Cook, asked if he would be England’s captain at the World Cup, replied: “If I’m allowed to be, yes. I don’t have a say on selection.

He added: “I know that seems a bit far-fetched at the moment when we’re losing games of cricket, but there are a lot of really good players in that changing room. If we can improve at the rate we need to improve, we’ve got a chance.”

England will try to avoid further embarrassment in the series finale at Headingley.

“Maybe for a few of these guys, it’s the first time it’s happened that we’ve lost as badly as this and it’s a true test of character for the whole team, really,” Cook said.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has criticised the team’s ‘old-fashioned’ approach to one-day cricket.

But Cook said the problem was more fundamental than that.

“I don’t think it’s been our mind-set really,” he said. “I think it’s been our lack of execution of fairly basic skills at the moment with our batting.”

One explanation often advanced for England’s poor record in 50-over cricket is that everyone involved in the English game puts so much more emphasis on Test cricket.

However, Cook said: “You only have to look at the dressing-room to see whether it matters or not now.

Just because you put huge importance on Test cricket doesn’t mean one-day cricket doesn’t count.

“There is no Test cricket for six months, so it is very important.”

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2014