Opener Cook’s career on the line

England’s most prolific Test run-scorer has two games –perhaps only one, depending on the arrival date of his third child – to convince both the selectors and himself that strapping on his pads and facing the new ball is what he wants to do this winter and beyond.

However, England captain Joe Root defended his former captain saying that conditions have been tough for the opener.

Cook has totalled 90 in five knocks against India so far at a lowly average of 18 per innings. “I think we have to be realistic about the surfaces we have been playing on. Throughout the whole summer, they have been very much tailored around seam bowling. With a lot of cloud cover, it seamed around quite a lot and it’s obviously swung as well. The hardest point to bat is opening up,” Root said.

He also cautioned the media to write off Cook at their own peril. “He (Cook) is a world-class performer. He has proven that time and time again and actually I would like you to write him off because every time he is written off, he comes back and scores a double hundred,” Root said.

“There is no-one with more experience currently in Test cricket than him. So I am sure he will be calling upon all of that going into that game and giving himself the best chance,” Root said about Cook. There is no clarity on Cook’s availability as he is awaiting the arrival of his third child.

On his own form, Root assured that he is one knock away from regaining form. He has totalled 62 runs after his first innings 80 in Birmingham. “It’s one game. Look at the rest of the series. I felt I got a ball that kept quite low and nipped back sharply at the Lord’s, chuck a run out in there as well when I felt great at Edgbaston. It’s very easy to look at the figures in a short space of time. I know what I’m capable of doing. I don’t feel as though I am Bambi on ice or anything.”

“I am determined to get things right at Southampton, but you’ve got to earn the right, you’ve got to get in, lay a platform to go on and make a big score. I don’t think I’m far away from getting those.”