ALASTAIR COOK brushed aside criticism of England’s tactics during the second Investec Test against New Zealand, vindicated by a 247- run victory at Headingley.

A variety of decisions – from not enforcing the followon, to taking time out of the game by setting an unfeasibly large winning target of 468 – caused debate overnight due to the possibility of rain on the final day.

As it was there were two long delays that occupied almost three hours of playing time, but England bowled out the tourists for 220, collecting the final four wickets in 21.5 overs.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan was one notable critic of England’s strategy, calling it ‘‘a bit safe and a bit fearful’’ on Test Match Special, but he was far from alone.

But having watched his bowlers do the business, Cook felt relaxed in defence of his captaincy.

‘‘I think the result vindicates the decisions. There is no doubt about that at all,’’ he said.

‘‘It is very easy when you are sitting behind the rope to say ‘I would have pulled out with 350 on the board’. It is easy to say when you are not making the decision and you are not responsible for it.

‘‘You are judged as a captain on results. In this game we have won by 250 runs.

‘‘You woke up this morning and first thing you do is look out the window. I wouldn’t say it was a sleepless night but we were praying for an opportunity to get enough time to go out there and win the game.

‘‘To win by nearly 250 runs is a good win and in just effectively over three days of cricket. We were 1-0 up in the series and we did not want to give them a sniff in the series because wins don’t come round very easily or very often.’’ While Cook could not have made his position any more plain, he accepts that there will be scrutiny of his every act having taken over as skipper from Andrew Strauss.

‘‘The beauty about sport and cricket, especially when there are big decisions to be made, is that there is always the other argument.

‘‘It is very easy to argue the point. This will not be a oneoff thing. I imagine throughout my reign – or whoever is captain – there will be a lot of people saying they would have done this or that and that is perfectly acceptable.’’ Aside from the tactical debates forced by the weather, England enjoyed a prosperous time in Leeds.

Joe Root scored a maiden Test century at his home ground, Cook became the first England batsman to score 25 of them and there were career-best match figures of ten for 132 for Graeme Swann.