Alastair Cook is world class. Steven Gerrard isn’t

This time last year, England’s cricketers were 2-0 up against Australia, two thirds of the way towards their third consecutive series victory in sport’s longest-established international contest. Not quite top of the world, they were nevertheless a good team in the prime of life. The winter before, they had beaten India on their dusty pitches, quite an achievement.

What a falling-off there has been. Since the turn of the year, England have lost Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen, three senior players, to retirement, mental fragility and banishment. They have also lost seven of their last nine Test matches, the latest against India at Lord’s by 95 runs after they had won an important toss.

Another senior player, Matt Prior, the wicket-keeper, announced after the match that he was standing down to get himself properly fit, which begs the question: what was an unfit player doing in the side? It all leaves Alastair Cook, the beleaguered captain, in a pickle. Out of form himself, Cook is not one of life’s natural leaders. Now he must learn to score runs again at a time when England have forgotten how to win.

There was a time when Cook scored runs, big runs, every time he picked up his bat. The Essex opener made a century on his Test debut eight years ago, and has since added 24 more. No Englishman in history matches his record of 25 Test centuries. This is not a duffer we are talking about. Here is a batsman who has proved himself to be, in that much-abused phrase, world-class.

As Cook was labouring at Lord’s, another captain of England took the decision to stand down. Steven Gerrard led the side in 38 of his 114 appearances, but it cannot be said that he was a world-class footballer.