By batting for 836 minutes in the heat of the Arabian desert, Alastair Cook has set an example to his squad for the remainder of this series with Pakistan, says Joe Root, and even given England an outside chance of winning the first Test in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking after the close of play on day four, Root was in awe of his captain’s epic innings of 263 that began on Wednesday afternoon and ended late on Friday when he paddle-swept the spinner Shoaib Malik – himself a double-centurion in the first innings – to short fine-leg.
Having earlier scored 85 from 143 balls, the England vice-captain now feels the late turn from Malik and a spell of searing reverse swing by Wahab Riaz with the old ball before tea could yet see the much-criticised pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium produce a winner.
“It was a hell of an effort [from Cook]; two days in that heat showed huge amounts of skill, concentration and fitness,” said Root, who added 141 with Cook. “Our captain has led from the front and set the example for the rest of the series. He’s just a model professional, he knows what he needs to do and he can switch off when he needs to. I think that’s one reason he can bat long periods of time.
“It gives us a glimmer of hope that we can get some sort of result. You’ve seen over the last session or so how it has started to spin a bit more and reverse swing has started to play a part, too – that spell from Wahab was exceptional – so it just shows a little period of play like that can turn a game on its head.
“When you have that scoreboard pressure of some sort of a lead on the final day, you never know. We saw over the summer how quickly Test cricket can change and I think it could be a really exciting finish. It will take a hell of an effort and [we must] play out of our skins but it’s there if we do everything perfectly.”
Asked how Cook was feeling after his marathon innings, Root replied: “As you can imagine, being out there for two days it’s taken a lot out of him. But I’m sure it’s a good pain and one at the start of the week he’d have loved to have had. I’m sure he’ll rest up and be as fresh as a daisy in the morning.”
With England’s batsmen having suffered at the hands of Pakistan in 2012 with a 3-0 defeat, Root believes their response to Misbah-ul-Haq’s side piling up 523 for eight in the first innings has seen confidence boosted going into the final day.
And while two two-day warm-up matches before the current series have been criticised, the 24-year-old believes the intensity of the training under the coach, Trevor Bayliss, meant they were not going into the Tests cold. He added: “There has been a lot of talk about our preparation. It’s not been a massive amount but the quality of it was right up there and it set us up nicely. We spoke before about what we wanted to do and have done it throughout this game.”
