Spirits Cricket

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The captain of the England Cricket team, Alastair Cook, has made it clear that Nick Compton will open with him in the first test match against New Zealand which is going to start from 6^th of March at University Oval, Dunedin.

Compton’s performance as an opener in the test series against India was average. There were speculations that Joe Root might replace him as an opener in the first test match against the Kiwis, but, the England skipper told the reporters today that the England team management wants to give more opportunities to Compton.

When asked who will open with him in the first test match, Cook said, “It’s Nick Compton who will be my opening partner in the first test match. Nick batted quite well under the unfamiliar conditions in India. Although, he didn’t play big knocks but, his contributions at the top of the order were really useful. He really deserves another opportunity.”

When asked if his team is confident after winning the ODI series, Cook said, “The win in the ODI series has certainly boosted our confidence, but, test matches are completely different. We need to show a bit more application as a batting unit in the test series. They have got some fine swing bowlers and in these conditions, they can really do a lot of damage.”

When asked about the failure of Kevin Pietersen in both the innings of the warm up match against New Zealand XI, Cook said, “That’s not much of a worry for us. KP had been out of cricket for a month or so. That’s why; he didn’t look that fluent in the warm up match. He just has to spend a bit of time in the middle and he will start hitting the ball fluently.”

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The captain of the England Cricket team, Alastair Cook, has said that the wayward bowling of the England bowlers in the death overs proved to be costly for the team in the second ODI match against India.

The Indian batsmen scored 110 runs in the last 10 overs at Kochi. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja were the ones who took the England bowlers apart in the slog overs. They smashed the ball to every corner of the ground and took India to a total of 285. That was a very good total on that pitch which was a bit low and slow.

The England team struggled against the Indian bowlers in reply and got all out on just 158 runs.

Talking to the reporters in the press conference after the match, Cook said, “We were in a very good position till the 40^th over, but, in the last 10 overs, we gave away too many runs which proved to be costly at the end.”

“I think we didn’t hit the right kind of length during the death overs. We kept bowling over pitched deliveries and kept getting smashed all over the park.”

When asked about the batting of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Cook said, “He is a great player. He is one of the best finishers going around. It’s very hard to bowl to him during the death overs. He can hit good deliveries out of the park. The helicopter shot that he plays is just outstanding. I don’t think anybody else can play that shot effectively.”

When asked about the performance of the English batsmen, Cook said, “The ball was moving around in the first few overs and we got some outstanding deliveries from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The spinners also got a bit more turn in the second half and it was really hard work for the batsmen. But, we should have batted better than this.”

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Ian Bell has said that the England players shouldn’t think much about the defeat in the warm up match against India A. India A beat England by a profound margin of 53 runs in the first warm up match played at Palam A Ground. Bell was the only England batsman who faced the India A bowlers with confidence in that match. He played a fantastic knock of 91 runs off just 89 balls.

Talking to the reporters after the match, Bell said, “Yes, we didn’t manage to do well as a batting unit today, but, we shouldn’t be too much worried about it. It was only a warm up game and it has nothing to do with the result of the series. The important thing is to learn from the mistakes that we made today and should not repeat those mistakes in the ODI series.”

When asked about his brilliant knock, Bell said, “I tried to play the normal game and treated the ball according to its merit. I didn’t find the pitch hard to bat on. The bounce was nice and the ball was coming on to the bat. It was a very good track for the stroke players. I waited for the loose deliveries and whenever I got them, I made sure that I put them away.”

“I think the shot selection of few of our batsmen was not right. It was not such a huge total. It was a gettable target and we didn’t need to take unnecessary risk, but, we tried to be over aggressive and lost the wickets.”

When asked at which position he would like to bat in the upcoming ODI series, Bell said, “I like opening the batting, but, for the sake of the team, I am ready to bat at any position.”