ENGLAND coach Peter Moores defended captain Alastair Cook once again yesterday but stopped short of promising him the captaincy at next year’s World Cup.

Eoin Morgan captained the side to a Twenty20 victory against India on Sunday and hit 71 from 31 balls, while Cook has failed to make an ODI century in his last 39 innings which has led to calls for him to be dropped.

While Moores is angry that people are questioning Cook’s role as a leader, he couldn’t confirm that the opener will remain in charge in Australia and New Zealand and said that the selection process will be decided after speaking to his fellow selectors. 

“If I get a frustration, it’s when people question Alastair’s quality as a player,” he said.

“He’s a bloke who’s scored five one-day hundreds and who is a very fine cricketer and a very fine batter.”

“We are going to sit and look at every position — which is right, because we’ve got to pick an England team to win a World Cup,” he said.

“It would be wrong to not look very robustly at every situation in that team, to make sure we do it right.

“I listen to all people’s views and I sit in a room with three other selectors, and we make the decision that we think is right.

“For people to think we are not strategising or not looking at things with a critical eye, we are.”

Moores then commended Cook on the way he has handled the criticism this summer.

“I think he has shown an enormous amount of fortitude to go through some of the criticism he has had,” said Moores.