England captain Alastair Cook has called on his batsmen to raise their game following their heavy defeat by India that left the hosts looking at another ODI series loss ahead of next year's Cricket World Cup. India beat England by six wickets at Trent Bridge on Saturday to go 2-0 up in a five-match series with two ODIs left to play. It was the reigning world champions' second crushing win of the week after a 133-run success in Cardiff on Wednesday followed Monday's washout in Bristol.
England yet again succumbed to spin despite a promising opening stand between Cook (44) and Alex Hales (42), Sport24 reported. But when Hales was caught behind sweeping at Suresh Raina, it was the first of three wickets England lost, all to spinners, for just 15 runs, with Cook and Joe Root (two) both stumped by India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. England never recovered and were all out for a meagre 227, with India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin winning the man-of-the-match award for a return of three for 39.
India then cruised to victory in making 228 for four with seven overs to spare. Cook said that in one-day cricket, it is funny, one can turn it around very quickly, but it starts with individual responsibility. He said that he knows that that is a bit of a cliche, but it would take someone to score that hundred and everyone will jump back on that.
Cook, who has now gone 37 innings since scoring the last of his five ODI tons in June2012, said that a team gets 330 and they win a game of cricket and it changes. England, with the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand starting in February, have now lost four of their last five ODI series, excepting a one-off victory against non-Test nation Scotland. The skipper said that it is frustrating that England is not playing to standards they know they are capable of, and need, and added that there are some good players there, who are not showing it, which is something they need to change around.
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