Delnavaz B
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- Alastair Cook riled by Pakistan press-up celebration as England captain vows to use stunt as added motivation for Old Trafford
- Misbah-ul-Haq enjoyed his century with a press-ups celebration, Thursday
- After beating England in first Test on Sunday, Pakistan's squad followed
- They dropped to the floor to mark the occasion, having won by 75 runs
Alastair Cook has pledged to use Pakistan’s army-style celebrations as motivation for Friday’s second Test at Old Trafford after England slumped to a chastening 75-run defeat at Lord’s.
After Misbah-ul-Haq had lined up his squad on the outfield to do salutes and press-ups in honour of the soldiers who trained them during a pre-tour camp back home, a frustrated Cook – who also branded his batsmen ‘naïve’ for their failure to deal with leg-spinner Yasir Shah – was left evoking the ‘cricketing gods’ ahead of the game in Manchester.
‘It’s never nice to lose at Lord’s and see the opposition like they were at the end,’ he said. ‘We’ll use that as motivation.
Pakistan's players line up to do press ups as they celebrate winning the first Test over England on Sunday
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Alastair Cook will use the scenes of celebration on the Lord's pitch as added motivation for the second Test
Fair play to @TheRealPCB who played some excellent cricket and good celebrations too. #EngvPak https://t.co/czkHg2bFsu
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 17, 2016
‘I didn’t take offence, but certainly at that moment in time it’s not pleasant for the first 20 minutes when you’ve just lost a game of cricket. They’re entitled to do what they want. Obviously it’s united them and it shows what a challenge we’ve got in the next game. But the cricketing gods…’
Cook’s comments, left ominously dangling in the air, came after his former England team-mate Tim Bresnan tweeted his reaction to the Pakistani press-ups: ‘That might bite you, boys. Carma [sic] catches up with you eventually. It did with the Sprinkler.’
It was a reference to the dance performed by the England team – Bresnan and Cook included – after they had retained the Ashes at Melbourne in 2010-11. When Cook’s side visited Australia three years later, they lost 5-0, though the result had more to do with Mitchell Johnson than the Sprinkler.
The England captain, meanwhile, pinpointed his side’s failure to score more than 272 in their first innings, when they allowed Yasir to collect six wickets on a pitch that had not yet begun to turn.
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Younis Khan (left) leads the Pakistan team as they perform the celebration at Lord's Cricket Ground
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The Asian country did so having confirmed their first Test victory over England by 75 runs on day four
‘There’s a bitter taste in our dressing-room at the moment,’ he said. ‘A few of the guys would like to do better.
‘We had a few poor shot selections to certain types of balls. We played some naïve shots at times to certain angles. You could see what Pakistan were tying to do and we fell into the trap.
‘We’re striving to become the best side we can be, but naïve is the word. To allow Yasir to get six wickets when the ball wasn’t turning was frustrating.
‘It’s disappointing, but the beauty of a four-Test series is there are three more chances to put it right. We’ve been beaten before and come back strong.’
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Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq celebrated his century by dropping down and doing press-ups on Day one
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Pakistan will now look forward to playing their hosts in the second Test at Old Trafford on July 22
ENGLAND'S MIDDLE ORDER WOES
26.13 - The average of England's middle-order batsmen (No 4-7) in this Test - Pakistan's managed 42.38
Though Cook wasn’t naming names, there was little doubt which of his batsmen had raised an eyebrow up in the dressing-room. Alex Hales flashed a wide one to slip, Joe Root pulled to deep square-leg, James Vince edged a lavish drive and –most culpably of all – Moeen Ali was bowled fourth ball charging at Yasir.
‘We’re a fairly open side so of course we’ll chat at the right time,’ said Cook. ‘It’s not about sitting in the dressing-room and shouting at each other. This is still quite an inexperienced side. Some of that showed and it was a realisation of what it can take to beat a very good side.’
A solution may be at hand. Assuming Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes are deemed to have come through the current championship game between Lancashire and Durham at Southport, both men will be added to England’s squad for Old Trafford.
‘It’s great news for us,’ said Cook. ‘It is nice that those two seem to be back to full fitness, but we cannot be using that as a reason why we lost the game.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cr...ed-motivation-Old-Trafford.html#ixzz4Ekwi1y5a
