In the interview England Captain, Alastair Cook, looks ahead to the tour of India and talks about the how he expects Kevin Pietersen will re-integrate into the squad, how England have sought to address any perceived weakness against spin, and how England can arrest the slide that's seen them lose six Tests in the past year.

England Test cricket captain Alastair Cook spoke with Brian Murgatroyd, after his team finished their three-day training camp at the ICC Global Cricket Academy at Dubai Sports City ahead of their tour of India. The camp took place on Friday - Sunday, 26 - 28 October, inclusive.

In the interview Cook talks about why England spent time at the ICC GCA and what they did while they were there, as well as talking about the facilities they used. He also looks ahead to the tour and talks about the how he expects Kevin Pietersen will re-integrate into the squad, how England have sought to address any perceived weakness against spin, reacts to the news that the India A side for a warm-up game doesn't feature a front line spinner and how England can arrest the slide that's seen them lose six Tests in the past year.

With many thanks to the management of ICCGCA who made this interview possible.
 

Training at the ICC Global Cricket Academy

It’s been brilliant. We've been here before and yet again the facilities have been fantastic. Three excellent days of a lot of hard work - all the nets here with different types of surfaces we can practice on - we couldn't have asked for anything more and all the lads got a lot out of it.


Preparations for the Indian challenge

We're still obviously very early in the days in the tour so we've still got two and a half weeks' preparation when we get to India before the first Test. So yeah we'll continue working as hard as we have done here and I'm sure, come the first Test, we will be as ready as we can be.


Opting to train at the ICC Global Cricket Academy

I don’t think we are allowed in India before the Champions League's finished so we had to find somewhere to trying out. Those who are at home clearly know it’s snowing. So here - it's obviously on the way and the facilities are fantastic. The last time we were here, last year - we were looked after superbly and it's been no different here now.


The facilities they used at the ICC Global Cricket Academy

We haven't been indoors much. You can see we've been using as many nets as we can and then gym and then the indoor school for fitness as well. You can say the facilities here are second to none.


Specific instructions for preparation of the nets for practice

Asked them to be as similar as they can be to Indian conditions than somewhere else. You know here in the cricket academy, they do have different types of surfaces, say if you are going to Australia, they can try and prepare wickets like Australia in the nets beforehand. So nets here, especially this end certainly has got very subcontinent-like conditions. So that’s all we have asked. We have just asked for as many nets as we can and they've provided us that and we have used them pretty much every day for a long period of time.


Fitness work in the camp

Clearly, you know this is a very skill based sport. We have done a lot of fitness (work) back home. A few of the lads have fitness test here. We have been in gym as well. So, yes it's been a mixture and it's brilliant and we have made the most of these three days.


Overcoming the problems of facing spin bowling on spin-friendly pitches

You can never address the issue totally - it's something which we have to work consistently hard on all the time and we have seen in the nets - we have been going on and doing that. I think at the end of the tour of Pakistan here, some home truths were learnt and we worked as hard as we could to try and put a few things right. We had a fantastic Test match in Colombo - we won there as well and again it's a notoriously very hard place to go and win but we did that. So we are definitely on the right track. It doesn’t mean we are near the finished article. We've just got a lot of hard work to do to keep improving as it is so different to what we are used to at home.


Kevin Pietersen's return

He will join us tomorrow and we are looking forward to getting him back in the team. What’s gone is gone. You know things have been sorted - we need to keep working, so it’s great to have a world class player back in the ranks.


On whether it will be awkward for Pietersen to join the squad that has been together for 3 days already

No, not at all. You know Kevin has been around for a long time. We all know him apart from a couple of guys - Joe Root and Compton haven’t played much cricket with him but everyone else on the other hand has played a lot of cricket with him. So I don’t see that at all. I am sure - reading what he said, Kevin can’t wait to be here and as a captain, it’s a great place for me to be.


His plans to address England's slide from the number one ranked team in Test cricket

Clearly, over the last 12 months, we haven’t played as good a cricket as we had done in the last two years leading up to that. Well, it’s not all doom and gloom - we've got a fantastic squad. It’s going to be a lot of hard work like for any side in international cricket. You work as hard as you can and there is never any magic formula. All I know is that it’s just a lot of hard work and I know that the lads are keen to do that.


The brouhaha about Indian not naming a spinner for the warm-up games

We are not in charge of who they pick or what they pick or what they do. We can only control what we do and we'll have to get the best out of that game and we'll get the best out of these two weeks. So we are ready. We cannot use any excuse whatsoever.


The possibility of beating India in India for the first time after 1984-85

Well, we are certainly not going that way just to make up the numbers. That's never the way I play my cricket and I wouldn’t expect the team to do too.

Discuss!