LONDON: Alastair Cook will turn 30 on Christmas Day, but having been dropped as England's one-day captain on Saturday, he may not be in much of a mood to celebrate.
Officials had remained steadfast in their support of Cook during an ongoing poor run of form that he halted temporarily with an innings of 95 against India in the third Test at Southampton in July.
But the orthodox and obstinate opener could not turn the tide in one-day internationals.
His best score this year was 56, while the recent 5-2 loss away to Sri Lanka represented England's fifth successive ODI series loss under Cook's captaincy.
Cook's form in Sri Lanka -- 119 runs in six innings, at an average of 19.83 -- was dire and afterwards he was clearly preparing himself for being dropped from the World Cup squad.
"I have not scored the runs I would have liked and we have not won the number of games I would have liked," said Cook, who has now gone 59 innings without an England hundred in any format.
"If it happens, I could have no complaints ... My performances in the one-day game this year have not been good enough."
There have long been calls for Cook to be spared white-ball cricket, with former England captain Michael Vaughan among those arguing it would leave the Essex left-hander fresh for the 2015 home Ashes series and improve England's World Cup prospects at the same time.
"Teams have worked out not to bowl short at Cook," wrote Vaughan in the Daily Telegraph this week.
"They also bowl spin in one-day cricket. He plants his front foot, using a big forward press, which is fine in Test cricket because it helps you defend, but in one-day cricket it makes you static.
"He is stationary so it is easy to bowl at him and set fields meaning he will always chew up balls."
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