Cook claims hard work is paying off

Yesterday’s seven-wicket victory at Eden Gardens put England 2-1 up with one to play, and on course for a first series success in India for almost 28 years.

The sustained wicket-taking spells of spinners Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann and reverse-swing seamers James Anderson and Steven Finn are continued demonstration of the skills England’s bowlers have devised and perfected to prosper in Asia.

But Cook’s three successive hundreds, culminating in an English record-breaking 23rd, and significant first-innings runs almost throughout the top six are a world away from the performances against Pakistan spin with which England began the year in the United Arab Emirates.

The first step, according to England’s new captain, was to recognise there was an issue – and then start doing something about it.

Amid the euphoria of the latest victory, albeit achieved after a last-minute wobble when England were eight for three in pursuit of 41, Cook acknowledged they have trodden a difficult path in the past 12 months.

‘‘We’ve had a tough 2012,’’ he said. ‘‘But the way we’ve managed to quickly rectify a few of our problems is a credit to our coaching staff and the leadership of (coach) Andy Flower – and the players as well.

‘‘The first thing was a realisation of a problem, playing against spin.

‘‘It probably wasn’t as big as everyone made out. But all of us had to have a look at our technique against spin and work out a method which suits each of us individually.

‘‘We worked our socks off trying to improve our technique.

Although we didn’t get immediate results, we are now starting to.’’ Cook’s first assignment as permanent Test captain, after the surprise retirement of Andrew Strauss, will now result in a drawn series at worst – and he has every reason to hope for better after the final Test in Nagpur.

If a transitional period had ensued post-Strauss, there would have been obvious mitigation.

But it has not, and Cook added: ‘‘The way everyone has stuck together under a new captain, I can’t praise them enough.

‘‘It’s been a lot of hard work.

I think we’ve taken what we’ve been doing in the nets out into the middle, and started to perform close to our potential.

That’s why we’ve won these last couple of games.’’ It all clicked for a ten-wicket win in Mumbai, then in Kolkata – apart from one dodgy session – England barely put a foot wrong.

‘‘In this game our bowlers have been outstanding,’’ Cook said. ‘‘To restrict them to 300 in the first innings on that wicket was a great effort.

‘‘Then yesterday, when they were 80 for nought, to put in a session like we did in the afternoon to take six-for was highly-skilled bowling. Swanny got Virender Sehwag straightaway, then the reverse- swing from Jimmy and Finny was exceptional.

‘‘It’s a credit to their fitness and their heart that even when it gets tough they keep running in for me.

‘‘As a captain, that’s all you can want.’’ That does not mean Cook will ask for any less in Nagpur.

‘‘I firmly believed we were doing the right things in preparation and these results have proved we are,’’ he said.

‘‘But it doesn’t stop now; we’ve got to keep doing this, to go again in Nagpur.

‘‘We’ve got to keep putting our hands up at the right time; from one to 11 in this game, people have done that.’’ Cook has underpinned the last two victories himself.

He described his dismissal for 190 on Friday, run out backing up when he did not ground his bat and instead allowed a throw to hit the stumps as a ‘‘brain-fade’’.

He could have had no other reason for self-reproach, and many for satisfaction, but it does not appear in Cook’s nature to indulge in the latter.

‘‘I obviously got a little bit of luck early on,’’ he said, having been dropped at slip on 17.

‘‘But we said, on that wicket, that if we could bat as long as we could we’d put ourselves in a great position.

‘‘Luckily, I was the one to go on and score a big hundred.

When you get in here, you’ve got to go big, because it’s hard to get in, but once you do it’s about maintaining that rhythm.’’ There was classic understatement, too, in his reaction to becoming England’s most prolific centurion of all time.

‘‘To score 23 hundreds was obviously a very good moment for me,’’ he said.

‘‘I wouldn’t have known what the record was when I first started.

‘‘It’s great to have contributed to an amazing couple of games. It’s gone really well, the batting on this tour ... I hope I can do it one more time.’’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India can expect a chorus of disapproval to follow them from Kolkata to Nagpur, but the captain at least retains his appetite for the battles ahead.

India’s first Eden Gardens defeat since the last millennium means the hosts can no longer win the four-match series.

Only victory in the final Test, in fact, will rescue a draw and some pride – and India’s selectors wasted no time in addressing the issue, by dropping lynchpin fast bowler Zaheer Khan and batting all-rounder Yuvraj Singh less than four hours after the end of the third Test.

Harbhajan Singh is another fall guy, although he did not play in Kolkata, and the three big names will be replaced in Nagpur by pace bowler Parvinder Awana, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.

Dhoni said: ‘‘Leading a side is all about doing it when the team is not doing well, trying to gel them together.

‘‘The easiest thing for me to do right now is to give up the captaincy and be part of the side. But that’s just running away from the responsibility.

‘‘I have to get the team together, and be prepared for the next Test match.’’