Cook pleased with England progress

Alastair Cook
12 April 2012

England captain Alastair Cook is encouraged for the team's one-day international future by the tenacity they have demonstrated in the NatWest Series.

Whereas a 4-0 Test victory over India appeared to come alarmingly easily at times this summer, the 2-0 margin - which meant England also already had the ODI series wrapped up before the final match in Cardiff - has been much harder won.

Even before Sunday's tie at Lord's, to confirm England's series success, they had to dig deep at The Oval too - the second of four matches so far, all hit by rain. "Most games, especially in tournaments, are very close," Cook said.

It has been far from plain sailing, then. But Cook takes heart from the determination which has seen England through, with nuggety innings down the order from the likes of Ravi Bopara and Tim Bresnan proving crucial.

He added: "It's good to get yourself used to those situations. If you dominate games it becomes less stressful.

"But we've made some good progress over the last couple of series."

England had to call in Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler as cover on Thursday after batsman Ben Stokes was injured in batting drills - having already been disrupted by Eoin Morgan and Stuart Broad's season-ending shoulder troubles over the past week.

They also chose to rest Kevin Pietersen for this series. Cook said: "What's been encouraging is we've had no Eoin or Kevin, and others have been given the chance and they've stepped up and taken their opportunities well - especially Ravi.

"We do need a squad and 15, 16, 17 players - and people adapting to roles in the side coming in producing match-winning innings.

"It is showing the competition there is for places. That can only be a good thing. We're all pushing to get into that XI, and competition raises the standard."

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