Colin Graves' 'mediocre' comments gave West Indies team talk - Cook

Calling West Indies "mediocre" on the eve of the Test series gave them their team talk, claimed England captain Alastair Cook.

England were dismissed for 123 in their second innings on the way to losing the final Test by five wickets - and drawing the series 1-1.

England and Wales Cricket Board chairman-elect Colin Graves said there would be "some inquiries" if England did not beat the hosts.

"It's not ideal timing," Cook said.

"That's a Yorkshireman for you - they're quite happy to talk a good game," Cook told BBC Sport.

"A comment's a comment, and it's his right as chairman to say what he wants, but it's never ideal against an opposition you're about to play.

"It gives everyone else a team talk, we know that. But we can't control anything about that. If we'd played to our potential and taken our opportunities it would have been irrelevant."

West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder also referred to Graves' comments after the final Test, tweeting "not bad for a mediocre side".

Coach Phil Simmons had put a poster with Graves' quotes on the home dressing room door ahead of the first Test in Antigua, describing them as "an underestimation of what we could do".

Cook claimed that Graves' comments had not put any extra pressure on him or coach Peter Moores and that they "don't worry about external stuff any more".

"For the majority of the series we did a lot of good stuff but when the pressure came on in the third innings we didn't bat very well," Cook said.

"It was a bit of a common theme in the series in terms of absolutely nailing them when we had the opportunity."

However, former England captain Michael Vaughan - who has been linked with the new director of English cricket role - tweeted: "Losing a Test and drawing a series against a very young West Indies team. I can't accept that the team are getting better."

And former England opener Geoffrey Boycott, speaking on Test Match Special, called for an inquiry.

After a drawn first match, England took the lead in the series with a nine-wicket win in Grenada.

Asked about not playing specialist spinner Adil Rashid in the final match in Barbados, Cook said: "The spinning thing will always be an issue when we don't pick a specialist spinner but that's a bit harsh on Moeen Ali with the amount of wickets he has taken.

"He hasn't quite got it right. It's another lesson for him and he'll get better for that."