India, Jan. 12 -- Alastair Cook has moved quickly to cool the chatter linking him with England's Test coaching set-up, saying there has been "zero contact" from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) even as his name is floated as a potential assistant to head coach Brendon McCullum.

Speaking on TNT Sports during the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney, Cook suggested the entire debate started less from any inside information and more from a columnist's need to fill space. "The only thing I will say about it is the article needed to be 800 words and Mike Atherton had done 600 and used the final 200 and threw something in," Cook said, smiling as the suggestion gathered pace.

Atherton, a former England captain and now a leading pundit, had argu...