England captain Alastair Cook is remaining fully focused on winning the imminent five-match one-day international series against Australia as he refused to discuss the fall-out from the dismal 5-0 Ashes Series whitewash Down Under.
The 29-year-old faced the media for the first time since his Test side was comprehensively beaten by the hosts in the return series in the southern hemisphere this winter.
And while many questions surrounded the future of Kevin Pietersen, amid suggestions that coach Andy Flower wants to move forward without the key batsman, Cook insisted the time for discussing the future of the Test team was back in England after the ODI series concludes on January 26.
Instead Cook stressed the importance of a successful 50-over series against the Aussies in light of the fact the 2015 World Cup will be played at the same venues in 12 months’ time.
A bit of revenge is possibly on the agenda for many of the one-day players as Australia ran out 2-1 winners in last summer’s series in England, following a 3-0 success for the Three Lions in the Test series.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s opening match in Melbourne, Cook said: “My total focus has to be on us winning games of cricket in this series.
“We have a World Cup in 2015 in exactly the same conditions as we are going to experience here and that has to be given my full thought.
“After this series then you go back on to how do we rebuild the Test side.”
England have of course brought in some specialist one-day players for the five-match series and Test stalwart Stuart Broad will be rested for the first two matches, giving the likes of Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan the opportunity to play.
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