Alastair Cook revealed that he took inspiration from Mahela Jayawardena to bat through the third day in Abu Dhabi and play an innings that Ian Bell described as “a masterclass”.
Jayawardena’s initial stint as the batting consultant to the squad comes to an end after the first Test, and Cook revealed that his influence yesterday stretched beyond the way that England played spin on a slow pitch that has begun to come in for criticism.
During his Test career, Jayawardena compiled six double hundreds in the heat and humidity of Asia on top of a mammoth career-best 374 against South Africa in Colombo in 2006. On that occasion he faced 572 balls and spent 752 minutes at the crease.
Cook, famously, seldom sweats, but Bell has never known him change gloves as often as on the present trip because of the scorching temperatures. Cook admitted that he found batting quite draining during the final session and drew on the encouragement Jayawardena offered during tea.
“We have the master in our dressing room in Mahela, who is so good at it [batting for longer periods],” Cook said. “He was, like, ‘you can do the whole day, easy’. It was a slow day and tough physically, but I was pleased to have got through that last half-hour when I felt a little bit tired.
Advertisement
“If you can be patient here, take the odd calculated risk in your area, you can bat for long periods of time.”
Bell is no stranger to the concentration and fortitude of Cook. “He has shown in this part of the world that he can bat for days,” Bell said. “He will be ready to go again [today]. What he has done well, especially the past few months, is make a score like this once he gets in. Those innings do cover your bad days.
“When I watch him against spin his defence is incredible. He works on the angles in the nets as a left-hander when there is rough outside off stump, and he executed the sweep here as well as I have ever seen him through a day of Test cricket. It was a masterclass of how to defend, come down the pitch occasionally to chip over mid-wicket and sweep from a full length.”
Bell owed the team runs after dropping Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq on Tuesday. Asked whether the misses preyed on his mind, he said: “They did at the end of day one, it is not a pleasant experience.”
In this innings of 63 he passed his output of the previous series here in 2012, when he scored 51 runs from six innings at an average of 8.50. “So that’s nice,” he said.
Advertisement
While Bell acknowledged that the surface is “not ideal” for Test cricket, it drew stronger criticism from Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan spin coach, who has also held a similar position with England.
“There is no zip in the pitch,” Ahmed said. “When you get settled, like Cooky did, it is very hard to deceive him as a spinner.
“Is it a good Test pitch? I think not really, no. If I am honest it makes the cricket dull. The last Test matches here, it was a brilliant pitch. Maybe this time with the extra heat they tried to put more grass on it and the grass does not let the cracks open. It is on the slow side and maybe that is not good.”
Cook, however, insisted that England will not become complacent. “Whether the pitch will deteriorate or not, I don’t know,” he said.