New Delhi, Nov 23 Former England captain Alastair Cook has urged the Ben Stokes-led side to reconsider their decision not to play the pink-ball Test against the Prime Minister’s XI after the team’s loss in the Ashes opener on Saturday in Perth.
The highly anticipated first Test of the Ashes series between arch-rivals Australia and England concluded in just two days as the hosts clinched an eight-wicket win to go one up. Ahead of the second Test in Brisbane’s Gabba, the England Lions will play a two-day pink-ball Test against the Prime Minister’s XI, and Cook, like several other pundits, opined that the senior men’s team shall play the game rather than the Lions.
Writing in his Sunday Times column, Cook, who finished as England’s leading run-scorer in their last Ashes win in Australia in 2010-11, stated, “In this situation, I would want to go and play in the pink-ball game against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra, not just leave it to the Lions players. It can be an uncomfortable decision as you are opening yourself up to failing again, but putting yourself under pressure can have long-term benefits. However much you practise in the nets, you cannot replicate the feeling of time in the middle.”
Cook’s comments came after skipper Stokes indicated that England plans to remain firm and will travel directly to Brisbane on November 26 to begin their preparations for the second Test, which will be played at the Gabba.
“That's how it was done a long time ago. We prepare incredibly well. We work incredibly hard every single day that we get the opportunity to work on our game, and that's what we'll keep on doing because we believe and we trust in our process. If the results don't go the way in our favour, that's not going to differ from that (sic) because, hand on heart, we know that we put every little bit or ounce of ourselves into our training, and we know and believe that this is the best way for this team to operate,” Stokes had told reporters after the game.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor