| England’s Cook still wary despite ODI century |
LONDON England one-day captain Alastair Cook refused to get carried away after his latest limited overs hundred sealed a series win over the West Indies.
Cook made 112 as England, set 239, won by eight wickets at The Oval to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in a three-match series.
It was left-handed opener Cook’s fifth hundred in 47 one-day internationals (ODIs) and third in just his last six matches at this level.
Yet there was a time when the 27-year-old Essex batsman , a mainstay of the Test side, was considered too slow a scorer for the 50-over format.
His appointment to the one-day captaincy last year, after Test skipper Andrew Strauss quit limited overs internationals, prompted former England captain Michael Atherton, himself an opening batsman, to describe Cook as “plodder” with the bat and a “donkey” in the field.
As Cook faced just 120 balls with a six and 13 fours during his innings on Tuesday, having previously run out West Indies opener Lendl Simmons with a direct hit, he could have been forgiven for thinking ‘some plodder, some donkey’, especially as Atherton managed just two hundreds in his 54 ODIs.
However, Cook insisted concerns about his form were a constant companion.
“I don’t think you ever firmly put them to bed, as I always say,” he said after his man-of-the-match performance. “You are only ever a few low scores away but what was pleasing today, I haven’t really hit the ball quite as nice over the last month as I’d like to have done.
Agence France-Presse
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