Cook Urges England Performance

It hasn't been the greatest few weeks for English cricket. After securing top spot in the world as seen in the stan james review, there was an air of optimism going into 2012, but that optimism has been abruptly halted after their dismal showing against Pakistan in their 3-0 whitewash loss in the Middle East. 

England are now preparing to face India again in Abu Dhabi as they look to not only bounce back from the 3-0 loss to Pakistan, but they will also be out for revenge after the 5-0 drubbing they received at the hands of India back in October of last year. It's because of these statistics that England aren't victor chandler favourites for a win.

England captain Alastair Cook however has urged his side to prove they have learned from their whitewash defeats. England have lost nine of their last 10 one-dayers heading into Monday's opener against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Cook is determined that such a run will come to an end.

Cook said: "One of the things we said at the time was we tried as hard as we could and we came up quite a long way short again against India.

"There's no shame in that, but there will be a shame if we don't learn individually from that and where we need to take our game. I hope people have done that."

How times have changed since the last time England faced India. Back in October, they began their Indian tour in seventh heaven having just added an ODI series victory over the world champions to the 4-0 Test success which took them to the top of the International Cricket Council rankings last summer.

Current circumstances are very different now however, as England try to put behind them not only that 5-0 ODI drubbing in India, but also a shock 3-0 Test whitewash here against Pakistan over the past month.

"The Tests didn't go to plan, and we didn't play very well," said Cook. "But it's a new format, and the squad has introduced six new faces. It's brought a freshness and enthusiasm to the squad."

Let's hope that England can bounce back from a disappointing few months and show the world just why they are top of the world rankings!