On this day in 2011: Alastair Cook takes over as England ODI captain

Cook succeeded Andrew Strauss in the role.

England one-day captain Alastair Cook directs his team during a match in 2011 (Nigel French/PA) (PA Archive)

Alastair Cook was announced as England’s new one-day captain on this day in 2011.

Cook replaced his Test match opening partner Andrew Strauss, who retired from the format, while Stuart Broad took over from Paul Collingwood to lead the Twenty20 side.

Strauss said: “I’ve enjoyed my time as England one-day captain immensely and I’m extremely proud of the strides we’ve made in limited overs cricket over the past two years.

“We still have a long way to go if we’re to achieve our goal of winning ICC global events and I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and ensure someone else takes up that challenge.

“I look forward to working closely with both Alastair and Stuart as we work together to progress England’s development across all forms of the game.”

Cook was the stand-out batter during the historic Ashes success the previous winter, scoring a record 766 runs, but was not included for the subsequent one-day series against Australia or the World Cup and had played sparingly in ODIs.

He said: “Andrew Strauss has led the one-day team to continued success over the past two years and I’ll be looking to continue that progress as captain.

“I’m excited by the challenge of taking our 50-over cricket to new heights and I believe I can play an integral role with the bat as well as captain.”

Cook also became Test captain the following year and broke numerous batting records during a career that ended in 2018.

His record in the one-day game was considerably less impressive, though, and his captaincy ended in December 2014, with Eoin Morgan taking over ahead of the World Cup.