England captain Cook thinks his side need to stop their habit of starting slowly in Test series.
After narrowly avoiding defeat in the First Test against New Zealand, Alastair Cook has spoken out against his team’s poor starts in Test series.
England have now failed to win the first Test in their last 14 series, their last victory coming against Bangladesh back in 2010.
It is also the fourth time in a row that England have failed to score more than 200 runs in their first innings in the opening Test of the series, after Cook’s side crumbled to 167 all-out against the Black Caps.
“It is a concern. I’m not quite sure we now the reason for it,” the captain said to the BBC about his side’s form in recent opening Tests.
“I thought we did well to claw it back but we’ve been lucky certainly, in a sense, to escape with a draw.”
After England were bowled out in the first innings, New Zealand then want on to score 460-9 before declaring.
The lead of 293 meant that the English batsmen had to do a lot better at the second time of asking. So it proved when Cook and fellow opener Nick Compton both scored centuries.
This was accompanied by a surprising 56 from nightwatchman Steven Finn and another half-century by Jonathan Trott. Ian Bell and Matt Prior then batted out the day to secure the draw and save England’s blushes.
Cook will now be hoping his side can improve their performance in the second Test, which starts in Wellington on Wednesday.
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