Cook over fitness scare, ready to go against Pakistan
England's opening batsman, Alastair Cook, says he is over the fitness scare that threatened to keep him out of the test series with Pakistan, which begins on July 29.
Cook has been playing for Essex ever since the test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 finished and during this time he has played a lot of matches. He picked up a back strain during a limited overs game and many feared it would stop him from taking his regular place against Pakistan.
However, Cook has continued his run of good form in the Essex team and has kept scoring runs for his county side. Essex will be disappointed to lose him when the test series against Pakistan starts but it will be a huge relief to all England fans.
Cook is one of the calmer players in the England side and he has scored a lot of runs and created some beautiful centuries in the England team. However there will be close eyes on him because Pakistan will surely work him over to see if they can tweak the injury.
Importance
One of the things that Cook does so well at the top of an order is keep everything very calm in the face of a storm. Opening batsmen often have to face some very hostile bowling and Cook deals with this very well while slowly scoring runs.
He has worked hard on his technique and has managed to edge out the problems that have plagued his game in recent times. He has managed to keep scoring runs, which ensures he will be in good form against Pakistan.
The one area that he can work on is converting more good starts in to centuries. He has already scored centuries against a lot of other test playing nations but the number of 50s that he does not convert is frustrating for any player.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 man said: "The back has been really good in the last couple of weeks, especially since the last lot of injections - We play it by ear but the most important thing is that I am out there playing. Hopefully it should get better. All I know is that batting and fielding at slip are the worst things you can do, that's why a lot of batsmen and bowlers have bad backs."
Target
Pakistan will recognise Cook as one of the more settled and important members of the England team. He will obviously be a target because he opens the batting and the bowlers could work him over thoroughly.
One way to get Cook moving around and testing out his back is by using short pitched bowling. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 will aim for his body and Cook will have to duck and dive out of the way to make sure he doesn't get hurt. This will mean that he has to bend and strain his back and it could tweak the injury.
He added: "I get good days and bad days but the last two weeks have been really good. It is obviously frustrating but hopefully I can continue playing. But if it does flare up again then we'll have to have another look."
Betting Advice
Cook will be a good candidate to score a hundred at some point during the Pakistan series. However, you are well advised to keep an eye on him. He does not seem to be suffering at the moment but he self admits that he expects his back could play up. This will mean you waste money if you bet on him now, only for him to pull out of the series at a later date.
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