Cook is main man at Durham

May 23 2010 Sunday Sun

AFTER a bitter-sweet fortnight in which one new star dazzled while an established leading light waned, one man’s status at the Riverside remains unchanged.

Geoff Cook’s choice of captain, Will Smith, may have been relieved of his command, but the explosive arrival of 18-year-old Ben Stokes on the first-team scene is thrilling proof of why the Durham coach’s stock remains sky high.

His side may have had a bit of a wobble, but Cook’s position – due in no small part to his incomparable eye for would-be world beaters – remains secure.

So secure, in fact, that Cook alone – a little like Sir Alex Ferguson – stands to decide on how long he will remain in charge.

A first four-day defeat in 21 months against Nottinghamshire resulted in Smith standing down and the doom-mongers penning obituaries of Durham’s two-year spell of domestic domination.

But a Stokes-inspired victory at Kent in midweek suggested reports of the double champions’ demise have been spectacularly premature – and that Cook’s own talent remains priceless.

England Under-19 international Stokes – already being talked about as the new Freddie Flintoff – was plucked from the traditional Lancashire hunting ground of Cumbria.

And David Harker (main picture) credits one man for that scoop.

"We do deliberately look and to a certain extent, target and develop relationships with Cumbria as we do with Northumberland, Durham, Scotland and beyond," said the Durham chief executive.

"But, with Stokes, it’s down to Geoff’s eye for talent and seeing something in the lad.

"It was Geoff’s opinion of Ben that encouraged us to get him involved and set him on the road as it were. As a young lad, he went over to Dubai with our younger team, and he’s been out to Sri Lanka. We have tried to nurture him as much as we can.

"He’s a huge raw talent but we obviously need to keep his feet on the ground. He’s 18 years old. He’s had a great start to his professional career but we need to coax him through this and help him along the road.

"But we’ve seen time and time again that Geoff is the man to do that."

But Harker also indicated that Cook does not shy away from the tougher calls which come with coaching a team fighting to stay top of the pile.

With Smith’s unexpected abdication as skipper, it is clear Cook recognises when there is a need to take swift action.

"It was genuinely a mutual decision between us and Will, but the harsh fact is that he wasn’t scoring the runs that he would want to score at top of the order," added Harker.

"The team needed to improve, and therefore how do you achieve that?