Cook admits concern over top-order failings

Alastair Cook admitted that the habitual failure of England's top order had become an "area of concern" following their humiliating 405-run defeat in the second Test against Australia at Lord's, and acknowledged that changes might be afoot ahead of next week's third Test at Edgbaston.

Speaking after England had been routed for 103 in 37 overs on the fourth afternoon of a one-sided contest, Cook said that it was "very frustrating" that England had failed to build on their impressive win in the Ashes opener at Cardiff, but insisted that there was still "all to play for" with the series squared at 1-1 with three Tests to come.

Nevertheless, he could not disguise the shortcomings of a fragile top order, with England once again losing their first three wickets with fewer than 50 runs on the board. Scorelines of 29 for 3 and 42 for 3 followed directly on from 43 for 3 and 73 for 3 in the Cardiff win, not to mention to first-morning collapse to 30 for 4 on this same ground against New Zealand in the first Test of the summer in May.

"It's a few games now we've been three down for 40-odd and it's hard to always expect the middle order to get us out of trouble," said Cook. "So that's obviously an area of concern."

Gary Ballance's technique once again came under severe scrutiny when he was trapped on the crease and bowled in the first innings, and though he was arguably the least culpable of today's dismissals, his scores of 23 and 14 have done little to appease his critics. Adam Lyth showed a vulnerability outside off in both innings, while Ian Bell reverted to his lacklustre form of the early season, making 1 and 11 in the match.

"The selectors might have to look at it but it's down to the players," said Cook. "I don't think it's where people are batting, people have got to get stuck in, but you have to remember that, even after a defeat like this it's still 1-1 and there's all to play for.

"The players have to take this on the chin," he added. "That's the nature of sport, when you lose as badly as this, it is to bounce back. We've got some wonderful players in that dressing room with fantastic records, but this why you play sport, to be tested against the best and we came up short this week.

"From the standards we set ourselves in Cardiff to the way we played here for four days, to not back that up here, today wasn't great at all," said Cook. "It's very frustrating and hats off to Australia for the way they bounced back. They put us under pressure all game and we weren't able to deal with it.

"In Cardiff, we did a lot of things right, here we didn't do things at all well. We didn't bowl with the same discipline or control as we did there on a different wicket. We didn't take those catches like we did at Cardiff, and we didn't make big hundreds, so all three aspects of the game we didn't do well.

"Australia were ahead from pretty much ball one and never let us back in," he added. "It shows how important the first couple of days are of the next Test match. The side that gets on top tends to dominate. That's the challenge we have for the first two days [at Edgbaston]."