The hall inside the ECB Lounge at Lord’s here was packed on Wednesday afternoon.
Cricket writers waited, among them sat former England captain Michael Atherton, now a journalist-cum-television commentator. Obviously he couldn’t miss the hoopla surrounding India’s complaint to the ICC about James Anderson’s alleged poor behaviour towards Ravindra Jadeja at Trent Bridge.
Alastair Cook’s press conference was delayed by 30 minutes and finally when he walked in, the volley of questions centred around Anderson.
Cook often lapsed into the ‘I-cannot-speak-about-this’ phrase.
“Did Anderson describe the event to you? What really transpired?” The questions were greeted with a shrug, a half-smile and the ‘I-can’t-talk’ line.
The England skipper did speak his mind when asked general questions. “It is a mountain out of a molehill,” he said.
Earlier, he admitted to being surprised, adding: “We cannot allow this to be a distraction. Apart from me and Anderson, none else are involved,” he said.
Asked about the face-off souring ties between England and India, Cook replied: “I hope not. As captains, M.S. (Dhoni) and I have aresponsibility to keep our players under check.”
