India v England: Alastair Cook demands batting improvement

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England captain Alastair Cook

England captain Alastair Cook admitted his team have to improve quickly after losing heavily again to India to slip 2-1 behind in the one-day series.

The tourists were bowled out for just 155, with India needing barely 28 overs to reach the modest target in Ranchi.

"We've got to be clear and start producing the goods out in the middle and not just talk about it," Cook said.

"We've got some quality players and if we want to win we need to stand up as batsmen and deliver."

Mahendra Dhoni asked England to bat first in the first international staged in his home town, the 42nd Indian venue for one-day internationals.

But England struggled to find any fluency, reaching only 34-1 after 10 overs, and soon losing key batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell within three deliveries.

"It's kind of a catch 22 at the top there, it was moving around but you had to score - 230 wasn't going to be good enough because we knew it would flatten out," said Cook, who was the first man to fall, lbw for 17.

"We got it wrong, one of the skills you need is being able to judge a good score and we didn't get anywhere near it.

"It's an old cliche but partnerships are crucial for building big scores and when you lose wickets in clusters that puts the opposition on a high and you lose the momentum you've built up."

A second successive defeat for England dropped them to third in the rankings, a rapid decline after they consolidated their place at number one by scoring 325-4 in the first match in Rajkot and winning by nine runs.

"It's frustrating because you look back to Rajkot where we played really nicely and it's quite hard to explain why we haven't played well in these last two games.

"It's important we don't over-complicate it when we come to Mohali. We've all delivered before for England and it's a matter of taking it upon ourselves as a team, as the lucky 11 who go out there, to deliver the goods."

England's chief tormentor in Ranchi was gentle slow left-armer Ravi Jadeja, who took 3-19 including the wickets of Craig Kieswetter and Samit Patel within five balls.

"He bowled nicely and we've found him hard to score off as well," the England captain conceded.

"Credit to him, they're allowed to bowl well, and we've got to find a method, not just against him but against all their bowlers, to build a big score."

Dhoni, who hit the winning runs, said of international cricket's latest venue: "I've played a lot of cricket here. It's one of the best facilities... a fabulous stadium and fans who were excited about this game.

"Everything went well. It was a perfect script. It's important to take the positives out of each and every game and areas we needed to work on after the first game we made sure we worked on.

"We are gelling well as a unit. I think we'll take a lot of confidence from this game and we're looking forward to the next one."

The penultimate match of the series is another day-night encounter, and takes place in Mohali on Wednesday.

We are using archive pictures for this series because several photo agencies, including Getty Images, have been barred from the ground following a dispute with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, while other agencies have withdrawn their photographers in protest.

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88 comments

  • Comment posted by Tom_in_Exeter, at 11:50 20 Jan 2013

    ' "We've got to be clear and start producing the goods out in the middle and not just talk about it," Cook said. '

    Surely Cook is the one who has been doing all the talking? It's time someone pointed out to him that there is more to captaincy than scoring runs every now and then, and issuing statements of "the bleedin' obvious" to the media. Leadership and guile on the field come to mind.

  • Comment posted by U14739044, at 10:25 20 Jan 2013

    The England management have put this series at the bottom of the pile this year by choosing to rest so many players. I'll quite happily take a few thrashings if it ensures form and fitness for the summer.

    There is a huge amount of cricket scheduled for England this year and a pragmatic approach is required.

  • Comment posted by U14626484, at 07:00 20 Jan 2013

    My worry is that in the ODI format ENG have resorted to a bits n' pieces strategy last seen under Nasser & Fletch. Kieswetter plays because he belts fast-med bowlers for 6. Dernbach: a variety of slower balls at the death (no accident that Dernbach is less effective since the 2 new ball idea). On the other hand I agree with rotation of Test players. I'm concerned about Bairstow's absence. Injured?

  • Comment posted by Baldeep, at 21:34 19 Jan 2013

    It's not all about England playing badly but India playing superbly with bat and ball.

    India bowled England out. They prevented England getting to 200. They got to their score just over half way into their innings.

    It's been a great day for India and they deserve credit too.

  • Comment posted by Stargazer, at 20:44 19 Jan 2013

    Pretty diabolical performance. Various fringe players are not taking their chances. Jade Dernbach, who had an awful tour of India in 2011, surely can't play any more in this series or in Asian condtions. Tim Bresnan has not been the same since his operation & one wonders if there is some medical problem there still. Like Broad, he needs to miss New Zealand and get properly fully fit.

  • Comment posted by Alan, at 12:31 20 Jan 2013

    @59 - AwesomeAndy - You clearly have a very high opionion of yourself given your username and your boast ! Scored a few 50s at club level did we ?

  • Comment posted by Alan, at 12:21 20 Jan 2013

    @59 - If you look at Samit's recent batting one day record, you wil see that it stacks up both in terms of runs and scoring rate. Until this match is batting has been superb, not sure what cricket you are watching. Don't forget that he either goes in when a collaps has happened or in the last 10 overs when he has to give it a go. He rarely has the chance to build an inngs. Agree wr test cricket.

  • Comment posted by robroyin, at 11:27 20 Jan 2013

    While i do think that England have brought an inferior side for the ODI hence India is winning, but i am not sure if this approach is going to benefit them, the way they are losing it, will affect the morale of this team and this might rub off into the test side!! they should at least have Swann in the side his experience would be have been valuable for the bowlers.

  • Comment posted by alibor, at 11:18 20 Jan 2013

    It is nonsense that India are allowed to opt out of the DRS system when every other country accepts it. The other countries should refuse to play against India unless they fall into line. The quality of umpiring in this series is not the best and key decisions (wrong ones) can have major affect on one dayers. If India wish to play their own game, then let them.

  • Comment posted by Kasteelcrew, at 10:49 20 Jan 2013

    48 - good comment, we just play too many international games these days, India are a spent force at test cricket so they concentrate on limited overs trash, twenty twenty games re good for a laugh but test cricket is the bench mark and England are fine after winning in India. suppose India supporters can gloat n look fwd to the much over rated IPL.

  • Comment posted by fallenfaith, at 09:48 20 Jan 2013

    South Africa lost their first one dayer at home to New Zealand yesterday. Australia are losing a series at home to Sri Lanka. England are 2-1 down AWAY to India. Big deal.

  • Comment posted by Scholes is like fine wine he gets better with age, at 05:44 20 Jan 2013

    @ 34

    I suggest you re-read my posts before replying with such a stupid response. Whether they let their opposition score 300+ is completely irrelevant. We are talking about England's poor batting and whether we should "look into" their performance in the first ODI or not (when it was good enough). The person I was replying to said no because India "almost chased it".

  • Comment posted by Scholes is like fine wine he gets better with age, at 04:30 20 Jan 2013

    @ 32

    I know what your point was. If hitting 300+ and defending it is not "good enough" then what is? Remember, our batting has been awful in the last two games so the first match shows we can hit 300+ on a good batting pitch.

    And how did India "almost chase it"? They needed 50 odd off the last 5 overs or so and the game was effectively over after the penultimate ball of the innings.

  • Comment posted by Scholes is like fine wine he gets better with age, at 01:01 20 Jan 2013

    25. Prashanth Narasimhan Ashokan

    "With due respect to England, I wouldn't take too much out of the first match victory in Rajkot for the simple fact that India almost chased it"


    What a muppet!

  • Comment posted by U14973941, at 22:48 19 Jan 2013

    @20, you can hear it on the radio... Why don't you have tv hahaha. An arrogant boi with no sense of cricket knowledge. If a team is hit with injury then the wicket keeper took it on his hands to bowl as he was the captain. Same as in a football match if the team have used up their 3 sub and the goal keeper gets sent off then an outfield player plays in goal dummy. Know go to sleep, past ur bed tym

  • Comment posted by whatyousay, at 22:40 19 Jan 2013

    lmao!!! Maksi, you making me laugh man. Prior better then Dhoni?? you dont know cricket do you. Next thing you going to say is Trott is a better 20-20 player then Yuvraj loool. Prior maybe a better batsmen than Dhoni in the test format, not in the shorter game. As for "TEST: been the important part of the tour (YEH RYT) every format counts just coz Eng are losing dnt mk it luk like u dnt care lol

  • Comment posted by umpteenth_time_user save 606, at 20:34 19 Jan 2013

    It's amazing all those years England spent talking about attacking Shane Warnes spin deliveries, then not doing it. He's been gone six years and we're still talking about it regarding the spin-friendly sub continent.

    Why do our batsmen opt for the 'pushy' approach against spin, which results in endless LBW's and close catches? Just play the ball and build runs at a steady rate, is it that hard?

  • Comment posted by polo53, at 19:48 19 Jan 2013

    Rightly so Cook. First ODI was an example of the fine batsmen England have got when on their game.

    Dismissals today were sloppy and summed up "giving your wickets away".

    Unless England up their game considerably I can see a 4-1 series defeat.

    Credit must go to India as well for their upped performances.

  • Comment posted by mrnoneofyourbusiness, at 16:10 21 Jan 2013

    @84, no cricketer in the history of cricket has done well in every game. The trouble with people like you is you like to pick up on the failures of the likes of Bresnan and Patel because you want them to fail. And the decision to rest Swann has been justified by Tredwell coming in for him and doing so well.

  • Comment posted by John Welsh, at 14:48 21 Jan 2013

    Trinidad and Tobago won the Caribbean T20 tournament for the third consecutive year. Great result guys!

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