Sir Ian Botham has called on captain Alastair Cook to step down from England's one-day international side.

Cook averaged less than 20 runs during the team's recent series defeat in Sri Lanka, which finished with an 87-run loss on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old insisted after yesterday's match in Colombo that he is the right man to lead England forward, but Botham believes that the batsman should leave the setup for the sake of future success.

"I personally wouldn't play Alastair Cook. I'm saying that now but I've been saying it for a year," he told Sky Sports News. "This is not personal. It's purely and simply on what I've seen in one-day cricket.

"I think he should stay as England's Test captain. I think he can be there for as long as he wants and score lots and lots of runs.

"He's proved himself in the Test arena and has the skills but I think trying to play one-day cricket is affecting that so I would say he should have a good rest and a break. There's a lot of Test cricket coming up after the World Cup."

Cook scored a total of 119 runs in six innings during England's ODI series against Sri Lanka.