Cook unfairly blamed for England's dismal form, says Paul Grayson

England captain Alastair Cook's county cricket club Essex coach Paul Grayson has said that the skipper has been unfairly blamed for the national squad's dismal form.

Grayson said that he feels that there is a bit of a witch-hunt towards Cook, whose future as skipper has been questioned following this week's Test series loss to Sri Lanka and a six loss from seven matches, at the moment and he does not think that it is the captain's fault.

According to the BBC, Grayson said that the English mentality is to always go hard at the nice guys.

Cook, who became Test captain following Andrew Strauss' retirement in 2012, has come under scrutiny for his performances with the bat as he has scored only 601 runs in his past 24 Test innings at an average of 25.

Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott described Cook's form as a 'recipe' for resignation, while the skipper said that criticism from ex-Australian spinner Shane Warne had become personal.

Grayson said that Cook would be aware that he has made a few mistakes, but it is the responsibility of the group, the senior players, to get England out of a tricky hole.

Grayson added that he knows Cooks has given his heart and soul to Essex and England over the last 10 years and he is a rock solid bloke and he will come back strong from this.