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28 July
2008 Cook Sets
Comeback Challenge Alastair Cook has
challenged England's under-performing line-up to
match their achievement from the winter by bouncing
back to win the npower Test series against South
Africa, as reported by Ladbrokes. The Essex
left-hander was part of the England side who
slumped to a 10-wicket defeat in last week's second
Test at Headingley, prompting plenty of criticism
for both the players and the selectors. But as both teams
began preparing for Wednesday's third Test at
Edgbaston, Cook believes England can make the
necessary improvements to bounce back just as they
did after losing the first Test in New Zealand this
winter to win the series 2-1. "It was a
slightly strange game at Headingley and we didn't
play very well," admitted Cook, the only member of
the top six to score a half-century as England
attempted to save the game in the second innings.
"After playing so well at Lord's that was
disappointing, but the challenge is on like it was
in New Zealand when we won the first game to come
back and win the next two." England have
attempted to address the drastic change in fortunes
between their performance in the first Test at
Lord's - when they dominated the opening three days
- and their display at Headingley when South Africa
won nearly every session of the match. Captain Michael
Vaughan even questioned the unity of the side
following the shock late call-up of Darren
Pattinson, but Cook claimed: "It was slightly
strange and a lot has been said about the
selection, but I don't think that was right because
we didn't play well as a team and you can't blame
one person for what happened. "We didn't play
well from number one to number 11 and when you
don't play well and don't win a session then you
lose the game. We've addressed that this morning
and hopefully we can play better this week. Unity
is important, but it's not as important as playing
well and we didn't play well and hopefully we can
do better this time. We chatted this morning about
what we did well at Lord's and what we didn't do
well at Headingley and how we're going to have to
bounce back and hopefully it's in this side to do
that." England's main
dilemma for Edgbaston is once again whether to
enter the Test with five bowlers, which would mean
Steve Harmison battling it out with Stuart Broad
for the final place, or returning to six batsmen
and four bowlers. They are unlikely
to name their line-up until they have monitored the
fitness of left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom, who
missed the Headingley debacle with a back
strain. Bet now at
Ladbrokes |
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