Alastair Cook backed by Paul Farbrace to stay on as England captain
Alastair Cook batted for over two hours at Lord's on Sunday but was eventually caught on 22 by MS Dhoni. Photograph: ram shah/AFP/Getty Images
Alastair Cook has been backed to continue as England captain even with the team in danger of slipping to a seventh defeat in nine Tests after he failed to take another chance to ease the pressure on his position on the fourth day at Lord’s.
Cook grafted for over two hours after England had been set a tough target of 319 to win on an increasingly unpredictable pitch but his dismissal for 22, shortly after the losses of Gary Ballance and Ian Bell, left the team in as much trouble as their beleaguered captain at 72 for four.
However the assistant coach Paul Farbrace, while admitting England are “up against it”, put his faith in Joe Root and Moeen Ali, who have already put on 33 for the fifth wicket – and suggested that Cook will be encouraged to stay on even if they fail, despite a lean spell stretching back to his last half century in Melbourne at the end of 2013, since when he has scored 129 in nine innings.
“Absolutely nothing has changed,” said Farbrace. “There is absolutely no question he is our leader. We want him to do well, we want him to score runs, and I think you saw today everybody in the ground wanted him to score runs. Everybody is behind him. He’s practised exceptionally well in the last few days, and we’re all sure a score is close.
“It maybe sounds like I’m trying to bull him up, but he’s speaking well to the team – as soon as Moeen came off he was sat chatting to him in the dressing room tonight. He’s a very unflappable character. Very much his thought is on the team doing well. It’s going to be tough, definitely. It’s a fantastic cricket pitch and yes perhaps we are slightly up against it.
“But you’ve got to turn up expecting your batsmen to get through and score the runs,” he added. “We’ve got somebody at the crease [Moeen] who batted all day at Headingley [in the second Test against Sri Lanka] and got 100 against all the odds. That was a magnificent fight, even if we fell just short at the end.”
Farbrace conceded a counterattacking 68 by Ravindra Jadeja, the feisty left-handed all-rounder with whom Jimmy Anderson clashed in the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge, had earned India a “big advantage”. Only one team, West Indies in 1984, have ever chased more than 300 to win a Test at Lord’s.
Murali Vijay, who was dismissed by Anderson for an excellent 95, confirmed afterwards that Jadeja and the whole India team had drawn extra motivation from the Lancastrian’s behaviour. “I think so, because the intent was special, so obviously it’s helping us,” he said.
Alastair Cook has been backed to continue as England captain even with the team in danger of slipping to a seventh defeat in nine Tests after he failed to take another chance to ease the pressure on his position on the fourth day at Lord’s.
Cook grafted for over two hours after England had been set a tough target of 319 to win on an increasingly unpredictable pitch but his dismissal for 22, shortly after the losses of Gary Ballance and Ian Bell, left the team in as much trouble as their beleaguered captain at 72 for four.
However the assistant coach Paul Farbrace, while admitting England are “up against it”, put his faith in Joe Root and Moeen Ali, who have already put on 33 for the fifth wicket – and suggested that Cook will be encouraged to stay on even if they fail, despite a lean spell stretching back to his last half century in Melbourne at the end of 2013, since when he has scored 129 in nine innings.
“Absolutely nothing has changed,” said Farbrace. “There is absolutely no question he is our leader. We want him to do well, we want him to score runs, and I think you saw today everybody in the ground wanted him to score runs. Everybody is behind him. He’s practised exceptionally well in the last few days, and we’re all sure a score is close.
“It maybe sounds like I’m trying to bull him up, but he’s speaking well to the team – as soon as Moeen came off he was sat chatting to him in the dressing room tonight. He’s a very unflappable character. Very much his thought is on the team doing well. It’s going to be tough, definitely. It’s a fantastic cricket pitch and yes perhaps we are slightly up against it.
“But you’ve got to turn up expecting your batsmen to get through and score the runs,” he added. “We’ve got somebody at the crease [Moeen] who batted all day at Headingley [in the second Test against Sri Lanka] and got 100 against all the odds. That was a magnificent fight, even if we fell just short at the end.”
Farbrace conceded a counterattacking 68 by Ravindra Jadeja, the feisty left-handed all-rounder with whom Jimmy Anderson clashed in the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge, had earned India a “big advantage”. Only one team, West Indies in 1984, have ever chased more than 300 to win a Test at Lord’s.
Murali Vijay, who was dismissed by Anderson for an excellent 95, confirmed afterwards that Jadeja and the whole India team had drawn extra motivation from the Lancastrian’s behaviour. “I think so, because the intent was special, so obviously it’s helping us,” he said.
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