Captain Cook demands improvement from England

Alastair Cook’s second away series as permanent one-day international captain will be a major test of his and his team’s credentials, in alien conditions – and he makes no apology for spelling out exactly what he expects of them.

England’s first sub-continental attempt in the era of Cook’s leadership could scarcely have gone any worse, ending in an unexpected 5-0 whitewash in India four months ago.

He does not condemn them for that alone, but makes it clear there will be no such tolerance if it appears lessons have not been learned from those failures in this four-match series.

“One of the things we said at the time was we tried as hard as we could and we came up quite a long way short again against India,” he said.

“There’s no shame in that, but there will be a shame if we don’t learn individually from that and where we need to take our game. I hope people have done that.”

England began their Indian misadventure in October in a near-euphoric state, having just added an ODI series victory over those same opponents to the 4-0 Test success which took them to the top of the International Cricket Council rankings last summer.

Current circumstances are astoundingly different, given such a short intervening passage of time, as England try to put behind them not only that 5-0 ODI drubbing but a shock 3-0 Test whitewash here against Pakistan over the past month.

“The Tests didn’t go to plan, and we didn’t play very well,” said Cook.

“But it’s a new format, and the squad has introduced six new faces. It’s brought a freshness and enthusiasm to the squad.”

Another area of optimism for Cook is his new opening partnership with Kevin Pietersen, following the latter’s return to the top of the order.

Pietersen first tried his luck opening at last year’s World Cup, and the signs were encouraging but far from conclusive until he had to fly home with a hernia injury.

It is more than three years since he made the last of his seven ODI hundreds. But Cook was enthused by his latest attempt at opening in Friday’s victory over England Lions at the Zayed Stadium – the venue also for today’s match – and he senses even the Pakistani spinners who confounded the tourists so unerringly in the Test series may be vulnerable to Pietersen.

“It’s a new challenge for KP – he did it a little bit in India, for a couple of games at the World Cup before he got injured, and he showed signs of promise.

“He’s excited about it; I’m excited about it – and when he’s in full flow in the powerplay it’s going to be hard to stop him.

“KP is unique in his own way and he’s certainly got the class – he averages 50 in Test cricket and 40 in ODIs.

“He’s a world-class player, and to make the most of those first 10 overs with two new balls you need a world-class player with a world-class technique – and he’s got the power.”

Cook is understandably reluctant to mention Pietersen in the same breath as some of the world’s greatest limited-overs openers, before he has even had a chance to prove himself in the new role. He said: “I don’t want to compare him to Matthew Hayden, but you need people at the top who can play like that.”

Cook can only hope, too, that England will collectively fare much better against Pakistan in 50 overs than they did in five days.

“Certainly the one-day game dictates you have to be more positive, and we’re not going to have men around the bat all the time, so it changes your mentality as a batter.

“It frees you up, and we’ve got a good record against Pakistan.”

Jos Buttler misses the game because of split webbing in his left hand.

Buttler suffered the injury in the Lions’ final match against Sri Lanka A last week, on the same day England picked him in their squad for the four ODIs in the United Arab Emirates.

Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan is fit and ready for action at last, having been able to bat and bowl in the nets with no discomfort from the post-operative elbow pain which prevented him playing any part in England’s 3-0 Test series defeat.

The seamer had to fly home before the first Test and returned on the penultimate day of that disappointing series, having rested the injury at home for three weeks and undergone a succession of fitness checks.

Bresnan played in England’s warm-up win over England Lions and said: “As far as I’m concerned, I’m available for selection.

“It’s up to Cooky and Andy (captain Alastair Cook and coach Andy Flower), what they do with that information. I hope I get a game.”

Bresnan is still wearing a support bandage but said: “That’s just a bit of padding, in case I dive on it.”

Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), M Hafeez, I Farhat, Y Khan, A Shafiq, S Afridi, U Akmal (wkt), W Riaz, S Ajmal, A Rehman, U Gul, S Malik, A Ali

England (from): AN Cook (capt), KP Pietersen, IJL Trott, RS Bopara, EJG Morgan, C Kieswetter (wkt), SR Patel, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, ST Finn, JW Dernbach, JM Bairstow, DR Briggs

Umpires: S Taufel (Aus) and A Raza (Pak).