'Indian bowlers didn't allow us to score'

NOTTINGHAM: England opener Alastair Cook, who made a solid 43 runs on a difficult first day pitch at Trent Bridge, backed his seamers to once again turn the tables on India in the second cricket Test.

"If we can sneak over 200, and then bowl like we did at Lord's, then it could be quite competitive," Cook said.

England were struggling at 169 for 7 at close after being put into bat on a track that had received lot of rain in the lead up to the match.

"It was one of those days when none of the batters got in, or if they did, kept getting out," Cook added.

Despite the England scoreboard not wearing a healthy look, Cook remained optimistic of his bowlers hitting back like they did in the first Test at Lord's.

"A good judge of a wicket and the conditions is when the second team bats," he said.

"If we can bowl consistently as well as they did we can build pressure, and a couple of early wickets look big.

"Tomorrow we'll know what's happened today. We might not have done well or we might have done excellently.

"With the amount of rains we've had, the moisture will keep coming out in the sun, so it'll keep nipping around."
   
He gave credit to the Indian bowlers for not giving his team enough scoring options.
    
"When it swung and nipped around like that it was tough, and the Indian bowlers didn't give us too many scoring options."