Cook with work to do

Opener Alastair Cook is keen to "continue making progress" in one-day cricket © Getty Images

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Alastair Cook enters the must-win fourth one-day international against New Zealand admitting he is a long way from becoming the finished article as a limited-overs player.

The Essex left-hander has developed impressively as an opener in the shortened form of the game since making his England debut nearly two years ago, scoring a century against India last summer and a match-winning 80 against Sri Lanka in Colombo last October.

He was also the only England player to offer any resistance in Hamilton, when the tourists suffered only the fourth 10-wicket defeat in their history. They were dismissed for a lowly 158 as Cook top-scored with a determined 53.

But as happy as England are with his progress - captain Paul Collingwood labelled him “the rock at the top of the order” - Cook believes he still has room for improvement if he is to develop into a top-class one-day player.

“I’m still a long way from being the one-day cricketer I want to be,” claimed the 23-year-old. “I’ve played a handful of games and it is a matter of continuing to make progress.

“The ideal role model is someone like Matthew Hayden, who has pretty much got the all-round game. He can hit sixes and he can hit singles to rotate the strike as well.

“If I’m looking at someone to follow, he would be where I’d like to end up at some stage. It is not going to happen after one day or one series, but work over time can get me somewhere close to it.”

Consistency has eluded him in both his own career and in his bid to form a solid opening partnership with the hard-hitting Phil ‘the Colonel’ Mustard.

In eight one-day internationals opening the innings together, they have not exceeded the 43-run stand they forged in their first match together against Sri Lanka in Dambulla, and currently average 22 together.

Australia's Matthew Hayden has set the benchmark, in the words of Cook © Getty Images

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But Cook admits that for England to progress into a force in one-day cricket, the pair need to deliver bigger opening stands to lay the platform for major scores.

“We got a couple of starts in Sri Lanka, a couple of 30s, which show we can do it, but we need to produce big partnerships to settle everyone and settle me and the Colonel down as a partnership,” he said.

“Hopefully we can do it in the next two games to put it bed, because when he gets going the Colonel will be destructive, we all know that.

“We’ve got make the most of the powerplays - that is the job of the top three if you get in. The Colonel is there to take more risks than me because that is his natural game, but I still need to hit the ball over the top to complement him.”

For all their struggles at the top of the order, however, England believe the momentum is theirs as they prepare for the penultimate game of the series at McLean Park, having bounced back in Auckland from convincing defeats in the opening two games.

Cook said: “We had to come back a bit after the first two games and a win does that. They are still in the box seat but we won well in Auckland with a solid performance that did stop the rot.

“There is definitely more to come and hopefully we can produce it here to set up a final. In fact, every game is a final now because we had to win all three. We’re a third of the way there now.”