What’s done is done the call as captain Cook seeks to get back on equal footing

Alastair Cook is urging England to move on from a “messy affair” at Lord’s, as they seek to level the Investec series today.

England were short of their best at Lord’s, where the controversial decision to omit James Anderson was arguably symptomatic of a false start against Pakistan.

Anderson, like Ben Stokes, is back from injury at Old Trafford and Cook is calling on the collective to show their true colours before it is too late.

Defeat would mean England can no longer win the series and therefore achieve their summer ambition of holding the full set of bilateral Test trophies.

Cook cannot entertain those thoughts and, on the occasion of his 50th Test as captain, simply wants to draw a line under Lord’s as soon as possible.

There, England had to sit and suffer in the dressing room whileMisbah-ul-Haq orchestrated Pakistan’s memorable salute and press- up celebrations – homage to their bonding experience at an army boot camp near Karachi.

The hosts have pared an initial squad of 14 down to 12, from which Adil Rashid is likely to be the eventual absentee after Cook described Moeen Ali as England’s “first-choice spinner for this game”.

That option will cause significantly fewer ripples than the marginal decision, based on amixture of medical advice and caution, to give Anderson an extra week – and match practice with Lancashire – before returning from a stress fracture of his shoulder in time for his home Test.

Whatever those rights and wrongs, England collectively underperformed – not with ball but bat and especially against Yasir Shah – in the first Test.

“The 11 players were disappointed– we didn’tdo ourselves justice,” said Cook. “We’ve got a chance to do that now.”

Reflecting both on defeat and last week’s selection process, the captain added: “It’s happened. It was a slightly messy affair – no one intended it to be like that – and we’ve got to move on and play better.”

He has clarified several times that a majority vote determined the conservative call.

“It’s been a bit of a sideshow, an unimportant one, really,” he insisted.

“Unfortunately, wedidn’t play the greatest game of cricket. Sothenpeople start jumping on things which were less important, but became more so because we lost.

“If we’d played really good cricket and won the game – and the 11 guys picked were certainly capable of that – then that story wouldn’t beblownuplike it has been.”

It may never be possible to conclude vindication or otherwise for Anderson’s late start to the campaign – reportedly against the instincts of Cook and coach Trevor Bayliss.

“The selectors didn’t think he was fit enough - the medical reports were 50-50,” said Cook. “So he was left out of the squad.”

James Anderson during yesterday’s nets session