Alastair Cook aiming to ‘go big’ again despite a more sticky wicket

'It’s always a nice place to be as a batter, to score runs early in a series – I know my game is working well'

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When England begin the second Test against Pakistan here this morning they will hope their captain can pick up from where he left off in the last match in Abu Dhabi.

So, it is good news that Alastair Cook believes he is in the kind of form that saw him inspire England to memorable series wins in Australia in 2010-11 and in India two winters later.

The second of those tours was Cook’s first as Test captain and he displayed the same kind of brilliant bloody-mindedness in last week’s opening Test at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium as he did in scoring three centuries during England’s first series win in India for 27 years.

Cook’s marathon masterclass in Abu Dhabi was the third-longest innings in Test history, spanning more than two days’ cricket and just four minutes shy of 14 hours.

England, who came so close to sealing a dramatic victory on the final day of that match, are likely to need their captain to show similar application in Dubai on what appears to be a far more testing surface for batting.

He is up for the challenge. “It’s always a nice place to be as a batter, to score runs early in a series – I know my game is working well,” said Cook. “For me it’s about rhythm – I had a bat yesterday and felt in good touch. If I’m in, can I get in that Abu Dhabi rhythm and go big?

“If you get in first innings, you have to go big. If one of our top six or seven gets in, you have to go big as you know how the game can speed up.”

“Going big”, as Cook puts it, has not been a problem for the opener in the past; last week’s innings was his third Test double-hundred and the 16th time he has reached three figures in an overseas Test. The England captain now has more Test hundreds in Asia than any other player from outside the subcontinent.

Cook knows that conditions in Dubai are unique, the early-morning moisture giving seam bowlers much-needed assistance. That’s what did for both England and Pakistan on the last two occasions they played here in 2012, when there were only two totals above 300 across both Tests.

“It will turn more and be a bit quicker,” said Cook. “Last time there was more for the seamers. It’s a unique stadium, the shadow is still there at 10am and that allows for dampness in the wicket and movement. It should be a better cricket wicket than Abu Dhabi.”

England very nearly pulled off an amazing victory in that opening Test of the series. It was an astonishing effort given the fact that for the first four days the pitch was as lifeless as the desert terrain that surrounds the ground.

Confidence is high in the tourists’ camp as a result and with the likelihood of a positive result in this match – six of the eight Tests here have had one – Cook is right to retain the belief that his team can do something special in the coming weeks. “It’s the same challenge as India really – two good sides in their home conditions,” he said. “No one has beaten Pakistan here yet and it would be great to be the first side to do it.”

Adil Rashid is set to play a key role in whatever success England have over the remaining two Tests of this series. In Abu Dhabi, the leg-spinner returned the worst bowling figures in a debut Test innings – 0 for 163 – but bounced back to lead his side’s victory charge on the final day with the first five-wicket haul by an English leg-spinner since 1959.

“He’ll take a huge amount of confidence from that,” said Cook. “You saw the weight lift off his shoulders when he took those five wickets and you started to see his real potential then. It would have done him the world of good.”

England have been working hard in training this week to eliminate the habit of bowling no balls. It is one that has cost them six wickets in Tests so far this year – the last, by Stuart Broad in Abu Dhabi, seeing Shoaib Malik going on to score 245 after being let off on 40.

The England bowling coach Ottis Gibson has been calling no balls in practice this week. Cook hopes it makes a difference. “It is incredibly frustrating,” he said. “No one means to do it but we are working hard to make sure we don’t do it again.”

Ben Stokes came through practice yesterday without any apparent problems after missing the previous day’s session with a stomach bug and is expected to take his place in an unchanged team.

Pakistan will bring in leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who missed the series opener after suffering a back spasm but is now ready to resume a Test career that has so far seen him take 61 wickets in his first 10 matches.

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Probable teams

Pakistan Shan Masood, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wkt), Wahab Riaz, Zulfiqur Babar, Yasir Shah, Imran Khan.

England AN Cook (capt), MM Ali, IR Bell, JE Root, JM Bairstow, BA Stokes, JC Buttler (wkt), AU Rashid, SCJ Broad, MA Wood, JM Anderson.

Pitch report

The Aussie curator here likes to prepare sporting wickets but was ordered to shave more grass off when Pakistan saw this one yesterday. Expect early seam assistance, more pace than Abu Dhabi and spin to dominate later in match.

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