LONDON – England captain Alastair Cook has called for the Test side to start developing some consistency when they are at the top of the game.

It has been a period of peaks and troughs for the national team. They became world No 1 last year only to lose to South Africa that summer.

Then last winter they produced a strong come-back win against India only to struggle to a draw against New Zealand, ranked second-bottom in the world, last month.

Cook said: ‘Looking back I don’t think we handled becoming world No 1 very well and I’m not sure why our performances slipped. I still don’t think we know why.

‘When we were one-nil down in India and everyone had written us off, to come back and win 2-1 shows there is a huge amount of talent in the side and an ability to adapt which we will need over the next six or seven months.’

He is confident, however, that despite the recent disappointing drawn series against New Zealand the side, who beat India 2-1 for the first England series victory there for a quarter of a century, possess the talent to lift the Champions Trophy, defeat Australia and then march on to triumph at the World Cup in 2015.

Cook said: ‘When we were one-nil down in India and everyone had written us off, to come back and win 2-1 shows there is a huge amount of talent and an ability to adapt which we will need over the next six or seven months.

Agencies