Paul Farbrace plays down Alastair Cook injury fears as England struggle against Pakistan

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Paul Farbrace plays down Alastair Cook injury fears as England struggle against Pakistan
 
ENGLAND played down injury fears about captain Alastair Cook as his team battled to save the second Test against Pakistan.
 
 Cook was struggling to run between the wickets as he scored just 10 at the start of England's second innings when they were set a world record 491 runs to win the game or bat for nine hours for a draw.
 
 He was clearly limping out in the middle on the fourth day, but assistant coach Paul Farbrace claimed: "It isn't a concern for us."
 
 By the close of the fourth day England were 125-3, with Joe Root unbeaten on 59, but gutted over losing out-of-touch Ian Bell shortly before stumps.
 
 It will take a massive effort for Cook's team to escape with a draw after the nightmare first innings collapse that handed command of the match to Pakistan on Saturday.
 
 But that was overshadowed by worries about Cook, who has played an amazing 119 consecutive Test matches and is crucial to the side.
 
 Farbrace said the reason Cook looked to suffering in the middle might be a side-effect of his mighty 14-hour knock of 263 in the First Test.
 
 "I am not aware of any injury other than the fact the amount of hours he spent hunched over a bat handle scoring thousands of runs," he said.
 
 "Cooky's never been the best mover anyway; I've never really seen him flying around.
 
 "He does spend time with the physio, as most players do. He does get treatment on his back from time to time.
 
 "But honestly, it is not something we are spending time talking about. He needs to manage and look after himself. He does that really well, it isn't a concern for us."
 
 England supporters will hope this he is right because only Cook and Root have shown the skill, patience and temperament to dominate the Pakistani spinners so far in this series.
 
 Cook was in the action from the start yesterday, taking a good low catch to dismiss Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq.
 
 But after that Pakistan were in cruise control, with veteran Younis Khan scoring another century, the 31st of his Test career, as he guided them to a second innings total of 354-6 declared.
 
 That left England 490 runs behind, and with nine hours on a spin-friendly pitch to get through. The task was hardly helped when opener Moeen Ali tried a slashing drive at Imran Khan and edged to second slip having scored just one.
 
 Cook departed soon afterwards, top-edging a sweep to deep square leg off the bowling of leg-spinner Yasir Shah, the tormentor of England in the first innings disaster.
 
 They were 19-2 at this stage, but Root and Ian Bell staged a recovery with a fine 101-run partnership for the third wicket.
 
 But Bell was under severe pressure to keep his place after a run of low scores and on 46 he was beaten by turn and bounce from Zulfiqar Babar and gloved to slip.