Really pleased about the character, manner in which everyone batted: Alastair Cook

England after suffering an almost humiliating defeat at the hands of Pakistan at Lord’s came back strong as a team to win the second Test at Old Trafford by a huge 330-run margin to level the series 1-1. Alastair Cook won the toss and chose to bat first, he himself and Joe Root made sure the decision proved to be the right one as they scored a century and a double-ton respectively. When James Anderson & Co. took field they made sure the Pakistani batsmen were never let off the hook and that ensured them a huge 391-run first innings lead.

Cook decided against asking them to follow on and instead walked out to bat and scored some quick runs. He and Root again got half-centuries and after batting for 30 overs asked Pakistan to chase down 564 runs and take home the second Test. That was not to happen and England wrapped things up on the 4^th day to win the Test by a huge 330-run margin.

In the post-match presentation skipper, Alastair Cook said, “We were really good, there wasn’t too much that could have gone better. Really pleased about the character, the manner in which everyone batted, we had a better tempo. We left it to the individual about how we’d play Yasir, playing him a little straighter seemed to work.”

When asked about Root’s promotion to No. 3 he said, “I can’t claim too much credit for his 250, but it seemed the logical step to put your best batter at No. 3. We talked about going big, that was as good as I’ve seen.”

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“We knew if we got a bit of pace and bounce it suits our bowlers. We feel as we have some good momentum with the ball.” He said when asked about the pitch at Old Trafford.

Most people were surprised when England decided against asking Pakistan to follow-on. But Cook had a valid reason to do so. “I thought a bit of time off for the bowlers if I’m honest. Rest up, come in hard today. Didn’t think it would cause quite the stir it would for 12 hours.”

“Jimmy is fine, your first game back you are a bit sore, but Stokesy looks in a bit of trouble with his leg. Mark Wood is coming back, Steven Finn, Jake Ball…Stokesy balances the side, but we have Woakes at No 8 or 9.” Cook said.

Joe Root for his double century was awarded the Man of the Match. He said, “Very special feeling, I enjoy playing here. Nice to have some support when I come here. You had to earn the right, Cooky set the example. Everything we talked about before the game, was nice to go out there and do it. You put the hard yards in and work hard, and I had a good think to myself, and nice to turn it around quite quickly. I don’t look to No. 3 any differently to No. 4, but taking some risk out will help. Both sides have played some strong cricket but we are confident going into Edgbaston.”

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After celebrating a special win at Lord’s the Pakistan team was shown exactly how tough things can be in the second Test. Reacting to their defeat skipper Misbah-ul-Haq said, “It happens, it can turn around like that. Full credit to England they won a good toss then Cook and Root took the game away. We were nowhere near, below average, we need to improve in every department. We couldn’t build the pressure and let them score a massive total. You need to keep the opposition to 350, near 600 it’s really difficult to come back. The way we batted in the first innings, we could have scored more than 350-400. We were thrown out of the game. Yasir is used to bowling on second and third day when there is some rough for him, so this different, and he didn’t have anything. Credit, too, for Root and Cook who played him really well.”

Talking about the Pakistan top order Misbah said, “It’s a little bit of a worry, you want your batsmen to fire. Without scoring 300+ runs it’s difficult to put pressure on. We need to convert starts. It’s the good and bad thing about our team, we can have a result like this after a good game but we can also bounce back from it. Mentally they are capable of coming back.”