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28 March 2024

England delay Cook decision for 3rd ODI

Joe Root of England being bowled for 0 by Lasith Malinga during The Royal London One Day Series 2nd ODI match between England and Sri Lanka at The Emirates Durham ICG on May 25, 2014 in Chester Le Street, England. (GETTY)

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By Agencies

England are set to leave it as late as possible before deciding whether captain Alastair Cook is fit to face Sri Lanka in the third one-day international at Manchester's Old Trafford on Wednesday.

The opening batsman's groin injury meant he missed England's humiliating 157-run defeat in the second ODI at Chester-le-Street on Sunday where the hosts were bowled out for a meagre 99 as Sri Lanka levelled the five-match series at 1-1.

That match saw Cook replaced by fellow left-hander Michael Carberry although England had called up Twenty20 specialist Alex Hales as cover for their skipper, with the team led by former Ireland batsman Eoin Morgan.

Cook appeared to take a full part in light training on Tuesday and then batted for an hour in the nets.

England seamer James Anderson, set to appear on his Lancashire home ground on Wednesday, was optimistic about Cook's prospects.

"We'll see how he is in the morning," Anderson told an Old Trafford news conference on Tuesday. "He's practised today, so fingers crossed he will be okay."

England won a rain-affected first ODI at The Oval in south London only to suffer a colossal collapse at the weekend.

"It was an extremely poor performance ... and what we've done today, and yesterday, is focus on how we're going to put it right on Wednesday," said Anderson.

"It was just one of those days where everything that could go wrong did. Certainly with the bat, we under-performed."

ROOT CAUSE

Joe Root has said England's much-vaunted attempt to rebuild their standing with their fans, let alone the rest of the cricket world, will come to nothing if they suffer yet more humiliation during the ongoing one-day series with Sri Lanka.

England, in classic early season English conditions, were bowled out for just 99 as Sri Lanka cruised to a huge 157-run victory in the second ODI at north-east county Durham's Chester-le-Street headquarters on Sunday to level the five-match series at 1-1 after the hosts won in a rain-affected opener at The Oval.

The series continues at Manchester's Old Trafford on Wednesday and with crowds appearing to be down after England's 5-0 Ashes series loss in Australia, Root - bowled for a third-ball duck by Lasith Malinga at the weekend - knows a repeat of the Durham debacle won't go down well with the paying public.

"We don't want fans turning up for games and seeing a performance like that," said the Yorkshire batsman after Sunday's drubbing. "It's quite embarrassing."

"The one way to get people to come and watch you is to win games of cricket and we have to make sure we can do that consistently, earn the right for people to want to come and watch us."

But Root insisted England, who will hope to welcome back captain and opener Alastair Cook at Old Trafford after he missed Sunday's match with a groin strain, had not lost faith in their collective ability to win the series.

"We played some really good cricket at The Oval, which was not even a week ago now," said Root.
 
"If we do play at the top of our game we're going to beat sides like Sri Lanka."

Root though was at a loss to explain why England had batted so badly at Chester-le-Street.

"There isn't one (explanation) that slaps you in the face," he said. "I think there are little things from a personal point of view that we can work on tomorrow in practice and try and iron out.

"What we're expecting is to come back strong on Wednesday and show how good a side we can be. We should be able to win in these conditions."

Root himself was stuck on the back foot when Malinga knocked back his off stump on Sunday but the player himself didn't think a radical alteration to his technique was required.

"I'm feeling pretty happy with my game. I'm still learning, as you always do, but I've got a reasonable idea of what my role is within the side and it's not always going to be exactly the same every game," he said.

"That's why I like it. You've got to adapt and make sure you can play the situation, whether you're coming in for the last 10 overs or near the front. I have to make sure I'm prepared to do both.

"Obviously yesterday, I possibly could have got forward ... (but) I am not too worried about the way I got out. "I'm just going to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's pretty simple really."