England v India: Alastair Cook has 'full backing' - Paul Farbrace
- Published
Alastair Cook retains the full support of the England dressing room, according to assistant coach Paul Farbrace.
The England skipper scored only 22 as England closed the fourth day of the second Test against India at Lord's on 105-4, chasing 319 to win.
"Alastair is our leader, our captain and he's got the full backing of our dressing room," said Farbrace.
"You saw how the people in the ground genuinely wanted him to get runs. People are behind him."
Farbrace, speaking to BBC Sport, added: "We want him to carry on as our captain - he's a good man, a good captain and he's getting better with every game."
Alastair Cook's run of low scores this summer | |
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17 & 28: | First Test v Sri Lanka, Lord's |
17 & 16: | Second Test v Sri Lanka, Headingley |
5: | First Test v India, Trent Bridge |
10 & 22: | Second Test v India, Lord's |
On a wearing fourth day pitch on Sunday, Cook lasted 93 balls of mostly dogged defence before he was tempted into playing at a ball from Ishant Sharma and edged to wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni.
It extended the 29-year-old's run without a century to 27 innings and left England staring at a defeat which would extend their winless run to 10 Tests.
However, Farbrace retains hope that England can still win, if unbeaten batsmen Joe Root (14) and Moeen Ali (15) can lay a foundation for strokemakers like Matt Prior, Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett.
"We've got two people at the crease who are fighters, want to get stuck in and value their wickets," said Farbrace, who drew parallels to the final day of the second Test against Sri Lanka when England came within two balls of saving the match after beginning on 57-5.
"We've also got people to come in who can strike the ball, so we've got to believe. After all, when we turned up at Headingley on that fifth day not many people would have given us a chance of still batting at 7pm.
"We've done it once and there's no reason why we can't do it again."
Ravindra Jadeja, who scored a quickfire 68 in India's second innings and got the wicket of Sam Robson on a pitch showing considerable signs of turn, is looking for a fast finish to the match on Monday morning.
"We are in a good position, but we need to get them out early tomorrow," he told Sky Sports. "We don't want to give them runs.
"We have to put them under pressure."
Highest successful Test run-chases at Lord's |
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344-1: West Indies v England, 1984 |
282-3: England v New Zealand, 2004 |
218-3: England v New Zealand, 1965 |
193-5: England v West Indies, 2012 |
191-8: England v West Indies, 2000 |
163-2: England v Bangladesh, 2010 |
141-8: Pakistan v England, 1992 |
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