Alastair Cook admitted England failed to cope with New Zealand’s attacking brand of cricket after crashing to a 199 run defeat at Headingley.

The Essex left-hander, who was named England’s man of the series, has not been selected for the Royal London One-Day Series against New Zealand will, therefore, shortly return to his county.

“At halfway we were right in the game and we created a number of little opportunities,” said the 30-year-old skipper.

“But credit to New Zealand. Every time we had a chance in the game, they piled on the pressure with attacking batting. They took the game away from us and deserved the win.” 

Cook praised international newcomers Adam Lyth and Mark Wood for their contributions during the series, as well as defending the out of form middle-order duo of Gary Ballance and Ian Bell, both of whom were also left out of the ODI party.

“Clearly for Adam Lyth to score his first hundred on his home ground was a great achievement.

“He’s looked great at the top of the order and Mark Wood coming in as well, he’s added a bit of fire to our bowling attack.

“But there are a lot of things we wish we’d done differently in this Test Match.

“I read somewhere that if everyone was in form, you’d score 800 every time, but that’s not the way Test cricket works,” Cook continued.

“We’ve got five weeks for everyone to work at their games then come back in Cardiff and build big totals, something we’ve done pretty well over the last two years.

“As a batting unit, we have looked good at times, but I’m frustrated today because those four wickets in the first hour really hurt us.

“It’s been a real challenge against their bowling attack and pleasing for me to have scored a few runs. 

“It would be nice to have a week off – there’s a lot of cricket still to be played this summer in a high-pressure environment against Australia.

“Then we’ve got two or three LV= County Championship games in which hopefully I’ll play for Essex.”

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, meanwhile, declared the 1-1 series draw a fair result. 

“It’s been an excellent day – an excellent five days,” he said.

“We bounced back after Lord’s where we weren’t too bad, but where England deserved to win.

“We had to force the pace to get the result and the lads played a really entertaining brand of cricket.

“The beauty of batting first is you’ve got the opportunity to play from in front.

“We had to hang in there to get parity, then being able to bowl last on an outstanding cricket wicket was handy for us.

“We’re really proud of this win. Sometimes it’s not easy to bounce back when you’ve lost and thought you played alright - as was the case for us at Lord’s.

“But here we were able to beat what we think is a very good England team in their own conditions.

“Credit to Alistair and his team as well - the series was played in a tremendous spirit and 1-1 is a fair result. It’s a shame we haven’t got another one-or-two.”

 

Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to watch England's rivalry against the Kiwis continue with explosive white ball action and secure your seat now.