Cook opens up on Ashes trauma

ALASTAIR COOK has revealed how close he came to the end of his record-breaking career during England’s latest Ashes defeat before he was rescued by a perfect demonstration of the powers that have made him England’s leading runscorer.

A near deserted Seddon Park yesterday at the end of a few warm-up exercises could not have been further away from the heat and pressure of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Now, on the eve of a two-Test series he feels will ‘define’ this England team, Cook spoke of the doubts that engulfed him as he struggled to make any sort of an impact against Australia.

‘To bat as badly as I did for pretty much two months and then for ten hours to bat as well as I’ve ever done was quite strange,’ said Cook of the Ashes debacle and the double century which followed in the fourth Test. ‘There were some dark moments on that tour when I could have said: “I don’t need this any more” and just jacked it in. But to keep going and then deliver like that proved I’ve got something.

‘But you always doubt yourself. That’s a natural thing. It doesn’t get any easier the more you play.’

England may only be playing New Zealand in two Tests here in Auckland and Christchurch but their importance is huge postAshes.

Ben Stokes will make his Test return in a daynight game at Eden Park after his ban. If England think it is too risky for him to be their fourth seamer, he will play as a specialist batsman at No 5, probably in place of James Vince.

England batted all day yesterday, with Root making 115 against a New Zealand XI and the bulk of their Test batsmen racked up 353 for nine in their 90 overs.