‘Middle order should apply icing, not bake cake’ – Cook

Alastair Cook has admitted that England lack the consistency to be rated the No.1 Test side.

England could, had they won at The Oval and seen other results around the world fall in their favour, have moved to the top of the Test rankings. Instead they suffered a 10-wicket defeat that leaves them fourth in the rankings and reflecting on something of a reality check.

Most of all, they were left to ponder the continuing fragility of their top-order batting that saw only two of the top five (predictably, Cook and Joe Root) average 30 and the unreliability of their close catching which, on average missed two chances an innings.

While England’s middle-order, specifically Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow, often bailed the side out (both men averaged in excess of 50 in the series), none of Alex Hales, James Vince or Gary Ballance were convincing. Hales averaged 18.22 at the top of the order, while Vince has been given the entire Test summer in the side without registering a fifty; statistics that left Cook admitting “they haven’t been good enough”.

“At the beginning of this game the talk was ‘you can become No.1; you could do all this, you could do all that’,” Cook said. “But these four days probably show exactly where we are. We’re a good side when we’re on it, but there’s a few areas we need to improve to make that next step.

“Consistently over the summer, we haven’t scored enough runs at the top of the order. It is frustrating for us as a side. It’s a big area we’ve got to keep working on – and obviously, for us to take that …

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