Alastair Cook confident about facing the left-arm pacers – Cricket News
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026, the England captain, is impressed by the progress of Mitchell Starc in international cricket but the left-handed opener claims that he has recently improved his game against left-arm fast
bowling.
The English skipper is considered to be one of the finest batsmen of the modern era but he has a tendency to struggle against left-arm fast bowlers. With the first Ashes Test scheduled to start today at Trent Bridge, some sporting
analysts are raising question marks over the role Cook is going to play in the all-important series, taking into account the fact that the opposition have three high-quality left-arm pacers, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Faulkner-c1643, in their ranks.
The left-handed opening batsman is of the opinion that there are very few quality left-arm speedsters in the world; however, he was all praise for Starc, who has impressed one and all with his ability to swing the ball both ways.
Due to the fact that the Poms have played two Test series against New Zealand this year, Cook has got a lot of practice of facing the left-armers.
"He [Starc] has had a very good start to his international career,” said Cook. "There's only a few left-armers around in world cricket and actually the amount of left-armers we faced in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, we had three of them, including
a spinner as well, so I feel as if my game has improved a lot against the left-arm [bowlers] over the past few months."
While commenting about the first Test of the Ashes, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 captain feels that the overhead conditions will play an important role in the outcome of the battle.
He added, "It's swung less and less over the last few years. I think we all know in English conditions, when the sun is out, it's very different to when it's cloudy and overcast.”
Considering the recent performances of Cook in international cricket, the left-handed opener is going to play a vital role in the Ashes. As per a number of sporting analysts, the openers from both teams
have to see off the new ball, in order to avoid putting pressure on the middle-order batsmen.
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