Captain Alastair Cook is confident England can bounce back from defeat to Pakistan in the first Test of their four-match series.
The tourists secured a 75-run victory and Cook admits England’s batting simply wasn’t good enough at Lord’s.
Pakistan set a target of 283 but the England batsmen struggled in their second innings as Cook went for eight, fellow opener Alex Hales managed 16 and Joe Root added just nine runs, with Jonny Bairstow the top scorer with 48.
“Chasing 280, you need someone to play out of their skin, get a hundred and for people to bat around him,” said Cook, as reported on the Glamorgan CCC official site.
“We allowed Yasir [Shah] to get six wickets when he wasn’t turning the ball. It cost us.”
Cook felt there were positives to take and he is now expecting an “exciting” series to develop against Pakistan.
The second Test begins on Friday and Cook is keen for England to mount a response to defeat in the opener.
He added: “It’s been a really good Test. It ebbed and flowed; neither side grabbed the initiative. Pakistan always had their noses ahead.
“As always when you lose, you look at things to improve. What we’ve seen shows it’ll be an exciting series.”
England are 1.91 to win the second Test at Old Trafford, the draw is 3.40 and Pakistan are 3.60 to take a 2-0 series lead.
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