Stokes: My legs went all wobbly
and we turned up on Monday morning and had a hack around the golf course. There has been a really good spirit between everyone,” said Cook.
“For me that ranks incredibly highly – it was a brilliant Test match played in a brilliant spirit.”
Stokes’s double- wicket burst sent a 20,000 crowd berserk and reduced his own legs to jelly.
“They were wobbly, the crowd was electric and the noise incredible,” said the all- rounder, who had hit a record 85- ball century on Sunday. “The crowd geed all of us up.
“All 20,000 were on their feet. It was a bit different, the full house supporting the home team.”
Both men will be hoping that support continues throughout the summer and Cook was hoping that his own good form with the bat and an excellent match as captain will silence some of the doubters.
He said: “A lot of hard work has gone behind the scenes [ on his batting] and long may a bit of form continue. Barbados and a century there was a big step for me, that hundred was a huge relief.
“With regard to the captaincy, a lot of it is luck and we had quite a bit today. It helps when they are 17- 3 and then Stokesy getting two in two. It was a fantastic effort all round.”
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said: “I thought we played our part in a tremendous Test match. Great credit to England.
“Even when we were dominating they kept going and they played an enterprising brand of cricket. The game was played in a tremendous spirit too.
“We got over 730 runs in the Test and still lost by more than 100 runs.
“It’s not every day that happens but we hold our heads high. It’s such a fi ne line between success and failure.
“It was tactical for me to drop down the batting order from fi ve to six .”
Liam Plunkett has been added to the 12 England players selected at Lord’s, giving the Yorkshire seamer a chance of playing on his home ground at Headingley in the second Test which starts on Friday.