Cook expects Broad to kick on

A confident England captain, Alastair Cook, heads for the NatWest series decider at Old Trafford with runs under his belt. He is also happy Broad opened his account.

He was very pleased to see Stuart Broad back in the wickets. England thrashed the visitors by 10 wickets to level the five-match series at two all.
Broad broke his duck for the series, on his home ground, taking two wickets as England's seamers - led by James Anderson (three for 24) - bowled Sri Lanka out for an inadequate 174.
Anderson made the telling incisions, seeing off three of the top five for six runs between them after Sri Lanka had been put in on a green pitch which appeared to, nonetheless, contain few demons.
Broad then shifted the promoted Suraj Randiv and Jeevan Mendis, before Jade Dernbach took the last three wickets in 10 balls.
Broad's barren run has been highlighted by many seeking reasons for England's back-to-back defeats at Headingley and then Lord's.
"It's not nice," said Cook.
England's new skipper kept faith in Broad and expects him to kick on again.
He said: "He's got a world-class one-day record, and it wouldn't surprise me if on Saturday he goes bang, bang, bang, bang - and takes a 'five-for' out of nowhere."
There had been calls for England to consider changes in selection, to try to stay alive in the series. But they gave Broad and others another chance.
Cook explained: "When we saw the pitch - which is exactly what we asked for - it was very clear we had to play our four seamers."
"The groundsman can take a lot of credit for that - it was very brave to leave a lot of grass on," said Cook.
Cook was at pains to point out too, though, that the surface did not misbehave as much as many might have concluded from Sri Lanka's early troubles - against Anderson in particular.
Certainly, there did not appear to be much wrong with it while Cook (95 not out) and Craig Kieswetter (72no) were blazing their way to an unbeaten record stand of 171 to hurry to victory in only 23.5 overs.
"I thought that pitch was as flat as I've played on, and came on to the bat really nicely," he said.
"It was just in those first few overs with the white ball it did a little bit.
"It just had some carry in it, and I think the Sri Lankans might have looked at it and thought it did a lot more than it actually did," he said.
As for Manchester, where the pitch will be something of an unknown to most after being turned 90 degrees last winter, Cook said: "We just want some carry on it."
"A lot's been made of this wicket here, but the way we played at the end proves it's the best we've played on in these four games."