Shane Warne believes England need to ditch Alastair Cook as captain in favour of Kevin Pietersen or even Graeme Swann if they are serious about winning the Ashes and becoming world-beaters again.u00a0England have already heard plenty of advice from Australia’s record-breaking spinner since their arrival Down Under - where they are hoping to win the urn for a fourth time in succession.

Warne’s suggestions have previously centred on a damning critique of Cook’s “negative” and “boring” tactics.u00a0In his Daily Telegraph column yesterday, he revisited that favourite theme - and for good measure, advocated a highly-unlikely late switch away from a leader who has lost just one Test in 16, intially as Andrew Strauss’ deputy and then his successor.

It was during England’s surge to their 3-0 Ashes victory last summer that Warne first had Cook in his sights. In his latest column, he said: “People wanted to know why England were not attacking when they were 2-0 up.u00a0“England’s default position is to be defensive, because that is the nature of the captain, Alastair Cook.”

Kevin Pietersen in Hobart yesterday. Pic/Getty Images