Good Week, Bad Week

Good Week For...

Alastair Cook

Following rumours that Andrew Strauss will be rested for the Bangladesh tour early next year, every UK newspaper has riffed on the concept of 'Captain Cook'. His England 'untouchable' status - and therefore that of 'most over-rated batsman in the world game' - remains intact.

As far as Cook's concerned, the focus of any 'succession planning' should be his replacement at the top of the order. The case to take a third top-order batsman to South Africa was obvious, both to put pressure on the misfiring vice-captain and to provide some kind of flexibility (if England pick six specialist batsmen then all places are set in stone, a foolish state of affairs).

It is one thing to hand Cook an ODI recall if he is the default captain in Bangladesh next year (Strauss and Paul Collingwood have booked annual leave). But the decision at the same time to remove any competition for his Test place reeks not of succession but coronation.

Test Cricket Reform

The warmish reception to Ireland's application for Test cricket is a pleasant surprise. Recent ICC membership has been hideously politicised. And even now Cricket Ireland has to brace itself - it is quicker and easier to become a member of the MCC.

We can only hope that their admission is part of a wider reform in Test cricket - a two-league system has for some time been touted by many intelligent observers and by this column as well. The benefits for both elite Test cricket and the development of the game elsewhere are self-evident.

Once that's through the real fun can begin: asking the venerable old men of the game, still desperately defending their statistics against the onslaughts of modern pitches, how they feel about a century in Kenya versus Ireland ranking alongside their own tons in years gone by.

Sachin Tendulkar

The Indian master was typically modest in acknowledging his 175 against Australia on Thursday, but even he allowed himself the concession that this remarkable knock was "among my best".

He also shows great patience in the face of those who reach for the record books every time he wipes his nose.

As Yuvraj Singh said this week, "Every week the guy goes on to make some record or other. How many times can you celebrate?"

Bad Week For...

County Cricket Credibility

Craig Kieswetter's call-up to the ECB Development squad, before he has even qualified to play for England, has predictably provoked a reaction. Danny Garcia, agent to the stars and also to Phil 'Colonel' Mustard, went furthest with a chilling dystopian vision for international cricket's future: 'This is an issue which affects every cricketer who wants to play for England and every England fan - what next, test tube cricketers?'

Garcia is no Philip K. Dick, and it is all too easy to knock these arguments down. The Guardian admonished Kieswetter sceptics: 'There are plenty of better criteria to judge a cricketer on than his place of birth or where he went to school. The runs he scores and wickets he takes are just two of them.'

That in itself has to be true. The boundaries here are arbitrary and the history is long. Nearly 40 years ago England had a captain mocked by his team-mates as an Old Radleian posho, a caricature of the English upper-middle class. Yet Ted Dexter, like Andrew Strauss, was born abroad. No-one in their right mind disputes either is 'English', whatever that means.

But just