Thaindian News

Birmingham, Aug 12 (IANS) England opener Alastair Cook has credited batting coach and mentor Graham Gooch, who is constantly pushing them for “daddy hundreds” — a term coined for scores in excess of 150, for his century at Edgbaston against India.

Cook totalled 20 runs at Lord’s and Trent Bridge, but returned to form to strike his 19th century — one behind Gooch. His unbeaten 182 took England to a lead of 232 runs over India.

“He (Gooch) doesn’t really count anything under 150. That is the benchmark for a daddy. We’ve got to keep on scoring runs and putting them under pressure. It’s frustrating when you don’t contribute, and I think that’s what drove me — to make sure I didn’t give it away,” Cook said.

“I did a bit of work last week to get myself into better positions - I might have been falling over slightly - but the conditions in the last couple of tests have been very tough,” he said.

Cook said that even though England are on verge of claiming the World No.1 ranking, they are not the ones to be satisfied and dream to do something special.

“We have this ethos of trying to improve every time we play and we’re hitting the standards we set during the Ashes. But we’re not satisfied and we never will be. This team wants to stay together for a long time and do something very special,” he said.

Cook shared an opening stand of 186 with his captain Andrew Strauss (87), then 122 with Kevin Pietersen (63) and an unbroken 82 with Eoin Morgan.

The opener was relieved as he and Strauss are back among runs, having failed to register a century-stand in 10 attempts since last Christmas in Melbourne.

“We said when we got past the 100 that it was about time we did something. It was nice to get a good start and it was a shame he fell 13 runs short of his 100, but fortunately everyone chipped in, and I was lucky enough to be the one who kicked on.”

“We knew that if we put a lot of miles in their legs again, as we have been doing in the last two Test matches, it gives our bowlers time to rest up and takes a toll on their bowlers.

Cook praised Indian bowler Praveen Kumar for invariably testing him.

“(Praveen) Kumar has bowled exceptionally well, given the amount of overs he has bowled as well. He has swung it both ways and found a good length as well. Fortunately, I survived him this time, but he has definitely been their best bowler.”