England vs New Zealand: Alastair Cook enters captaincy's last-summer saloon

One of the less edifying traditions of Ashes series in England is for their captain, if England are beaten, to take his bat as if it were a Samurai sword and fall upon it. Either that or he is stabbed in the back by the selectors.

As England have won the past three Ashes series at home since 2005, this tradition may have been forgotten, but it was the fate of David Gower in 1989, and Graham Gooch in 1993, and Mike Atherton wished he had resigned after the 1997 Ashes rather than stay on for another series. With Australia’s fast bowling overwhelmingly superior, come August the custom might be revived.

• Geoffrey Boycott: England are poor on the field and a shambles off it

To survive any longer as captain, Cook’s summer has to resemble the first half of his reign, not the second. He was 7-1 up in Tests after his first four series. In his past four he is 8-4 down, and England enter the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s tomorrow in fifth place in the Test rankings, which is commendable only by comparison with their One-Day International ranking of sixth and their Twenty20 ranking of eighth.

Going into this international summer, Cook had the right to expect stability and continuity on the part of the England and Wales Cricket Board, but it is impossible to imagine how Kevin Pietersen could have been mishandled more. It is safe to say that a month ago the majority of cricket followers were against him. But after doing what was apparently asked of him on the field, Pietersen has been made a martyr and the majority probably sympathises.

Until England win the Ashes, and the World Cup of 2019, and the World T20 finals in Bangladesh next March, people will be able to argue that England teams would be stronger with Pietersen. It is a cloud that will never go away, and will turn to rain every time England lose, until he retires.

If Pietersen had argued his case in front of an ECB executive board composed of seven “great and good”, all reasonable people could have accepted their decision, even if they did not agree with it. Instead, the ban has been imposed by one or two people – whether last year or under the new regime – so Pietersen’s supporters can argue it was based on personal prejudice. Justice has not been seen to be done.

Amid the shambles, if there is a beacon, it is Cook. A wonderful feature of Test cricket is that it takes one individual to stand up and turn round the fortunes of his team. It could be a match-winning spell by James Anderson on day one at Lord’s, or an opening batsman who bats through the day and gradually turns the tide.

It is too early in the season for a Test match – the weather is too cold, the pitch too juicy, the air too moist, – so it would be a miracle if Cook, or his latest partner Adam Lyth, were to bat through day one. But Cook is in the right frame of mind to lead from the front and spark a revival when conditions improve for batting.

For a strong start, Cook’s home life is settled with his wife and daughter. He leads the team he wants, without Pietersen, and is all the more powerful in the absence of a head coach, without Peter Moores. After Joe Root’s appointment as vice-captain Cook knows he has a successor-in-waiting, and as Gooch is his long-term batting coach, he knows the fate that befalls England captains who lose a home Ashes series. But the last-summer saloon can be a liberating place.

Above all, Cook is batting well – better than at any time since the home series against New Zealand exactly two years ago – and his stubbornness, the prime quality of English opening batsmen through the ages, is undimmed at 30. His 105 in Barbados was nothing less than a new lease of career.

• Boycott: Cook is so up himself he thinks he's untouchable
• Kevin Pietersen: My fury at England deceit

It was far from being a perfect innings: indeed he sowed the seeds of disaster by allowing Marlon Samuels to keep one end tight so that England were far from being out of sight when West Indies’ fresh fast bowlers took the second new ball and rolled England over for 257. He needed a middle-order team-mate to go after the bowling, as Pietersen did when they batted so brilliantly as a pair in India in 2012.

But it was a typical Cook innings: unbeaten on 31 at lunch after 25 overs; unbeaten on 60 at tea after 56 overs; unbeaten on 88 when the second ball was taken after 80 overs, then “accelerating” to reach his 26th Test century in the 88th over. For stubbornness, while too many of his team deserted their posts, it was flawless.

The appointment of Jason Gillespie as head coach, if it can be made to happen before the Ashes, will be just what Cook needs as a captain: someone who stops him taking every defensive option. In the meantime, in against New Zealand, Cook could begin reinventing himself.

At first slip he dropped a couple of important and fairly straightforward catches in the West Indies: Marlon Samuels when 32 in Grenada and Darren Bravo on nought in Barbados. Time to give that job to Root and move to mid-off: Cook may still be a reactive captain, but at least he will react more quickly when standing alongside his bowler.

Above all, Cook has his future in his hands. If he reproduces his output of 2010-11, when his 769 runs were the second most for England in any Test series, England will not lose the Ashes by a large margin, if at all. Then Cook cannot be stabbed from behind, or expected to commit hara-kiri.