Vaughan adamant Cook must quit ODI captaincy for England to win WC

Michael VaughanJohannesburg, Sep 04 - Former England skipper Michael Vaughan once again called for the sacking of current captain Alastair Cook, saying that he must be removed from the nation's ODI captaincy if they are to have any chance of winning the next year's World Cup.

England's humiliating nine-wicket ODI defeat by India at Edgbaston on Tuesday, a result that saw the world champions take an unbeatable 3-0 lead in a five-match series and win with nearly 20 overs to spare, was the final straw for Vaughan.

Vaughan said that Cook is a stubborn man, and added that the skipper proved it this summer when he defied people calling for him to go and made his point by winning the Test series against India, Sport24 reported.

But, he added that one-day cricket is different. Vaughan said that if Cook is not going to stand down then the tough call has to be made.

England will head to Australia and New Zealand for a World Cup starting in February having yet to win the tournament in any of its 10 previous editions stretching back to 1975.

Vaughan who, in common with Cook, enjoyed Ashes-winning success as England captain, feared history was in the process of repeating itself when it came to the team's one-day leadership.

The former skipper said that Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Andrew Strauss and he himself thought that they could do the job, but they were Test match cricketers and could not adapt.

Vaughan said that Cook is cut from similar cloth and, at the moment, he is dropping players from the team who are better one-day cricketers than him. He added that the skipper is going up to players telling them they are not in the team and they must be looking back wondering how is Cook still in it. (ANI)