Cook lauds his team that stood up to the challenge

England's one-day skipper Alastair Cook is so pleased with the 4-0 clean sweep over Pakistan that he does not know how much to thank his players. "It was a great comeback after the Test series. I said at the start of the series, if we're going to turn this round we're going to need people to stand up and be counted. What happened in India, when we lost 5-0, gave us a chance to put that to be and say ‘this is what we need to do if we want to improve'. I couldn't have asked any more from our team, the way we've responded from India, really thought about how we wanted to play — and delivered the goods here," Cook said.

"Pakistan had won 14 out of 15 one-dayers in a row. For us to win 4-0, in subcontinent-like conditions, is a fantastic achievement," added Cook who went on to laud Kevin Pietersen for catching the headlines instead of him. "KP will take all the headlines for an amazing innings, but it's great to see Craig [Kieswetter] come in when we're 60 for 4 — in a new position for him — and look as comfortable as he did. For him to come in and do that certainly brought a smile to my face as well, because we know we've got some good characters in our dressing room."