Cook - Pressure was on

Saturday 10 September 2011

Captain Alastair Cook paid tribute to the way his side's lower order handled the pressure to see home England's victory over India in the third one-day international.
The hosts clinched an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series with a three-wicket Duckworth-Lewis win at the Oval after a rain delay had interrupted them.
Craig Kieswetter made 52 at the top of the innings before a string of quick wickets fell, with a calming innings of 41 from Ravi Bopara needed to stop the chase falling apart.
Bopara combined with Tim Bresnan for a timely sixth-wicket stand of 60 before Graeme Swann hit the winning runs with seven balls of the shortened innings left.
"It was touch and go there but it was pleasing the way we handled the pressure.Credit has to go to the lower order, especially Ravi," Cook told Sky Sports.
"It was a good score. When we started, though, we felt like it was a good wicket.
"We were surprised at how much it turned after the rain delay. It was pleasing with the way we handled that after the resumption.

Good form

"It was slightly disappointing that no-one got the 80-odd to win the game but everyone in that order is playing well."
England's victory was set up right at the start of the match as India slumped to 25-4 after Cook decided to bowl on a green wicket.
India, who are still looking for their first win against England after two months on tour, fought back through Ravindra Jadeja (78) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (69) to post a respectable 234-7.
Cook added: "We knew it would do a little bit early. The way Tim Bresnan and Jimmy exploited the conditions made it tough and to get those quick wickets was important for us."
Dhoni was left rueing his side's poor start as James Anderson took three wickets and ran out Rahul Dravid before the end of the 11th over.
"We lost quite a few early wickets and that made a big impact on the game," he said.
"To get close to what we put on board was a good task. Especially Jadeja in his first game back. It was not enough runs though so (we) had to bowl well."
He added: "With the rain we had an advantage in the sense we lost seven overs and not many runs. But the disadvantage was that it started to come onto the bat after the rain and the outfield was wet."

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive

Search This Blog