Cook is eager for England to move on from '˜sideshow' over Anderson's absence at Lord's

Alastair Cook is urging England to move on from a 'messy affair' at Lord's, as they seek to level the Investec series.

England were well short of their best at the home of cricket, where the controversial decision to omit James Anderson was arguably symptomatic of a false start against Pakistan.

Anderson, like Ben Stokes, is back from injury at Old Trafford – and England captain Cook is calling on the collective to show their true colours before it is too late. Defeat at Old Trafford would mean England can no longer win the series, and therefore achieve their summer ambition of holding the full set of bilateral Test trophies.

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Cook cannot entertain those thoughts, on the occasion of his 50th Test as captain, and simply wants to draw a line under Lord’s as soon as possible.

There, England had to sit and suffer in the dressing-room while Misbah-ul-Haq orchestrated Pakistan’s memorable salute and press-up celebrations – homage to their bonding experience at a pre-tour army boot camp near Karachi.

The hosts have pared an initial squad of 14 down to 12, from which Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid is likely to be the eventual absentee today after Cook described Moeen Ali as England’s “first-choice spinner for this game”.

That option will cause significantly fewer ripples than the marginal decision, based on a mixture of medical advice and caution, to give Anderson an extra week – and match practice with Lancashire – before returning from a stress fracture of his shoulder in time for his home Test.

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Whatever those rights and wrongs, England collectively under-performed not with ball but bat, especially against leg-spinner Yasir Shah, in the first Test.

“The 11 players were disappointed ... we didn’t do ourselves justice,” said Cook.

“We’ve got a chance to do that now.”

Reflecting both on defeat and last week’s selection process, the captain added: “It’s happened.

“It was a slightly messy affair – no one intended it to be like that – and we’ve got to move on and play better cricket.”

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He has clarified several times that a majority vote determined the conservative call.

“It’s been a bit of a sideshow, an unimportant sideshow, really,” he insisted.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t play the greatest game of cricket. So then people start jumping on things which were less important, but became more so because we lost.

“If we’d played really good cricket and won the game –and the 11 guys (picked) were certainly capable of that – then that story wouldn’t be blown up like it has been.”

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It may never be possible to conclude vindication or otherwise for Anderson’s late start to the campaign, reportedly against the instincts of captain, player and coach Trevor Bayliss.

“The selectors didn’t think he was fit enough, the medical reports were 50/50,” said Cook.

“So he was left out of the squad. They felt he was a week away from match fitness, and he’s ready here. The selectors weren’t willing to take that risk of him getting injured again, with three more important Test matches to come.”