Peter Moores praises the England bowlers
Head Coach Peter Moores heaped praise on his bowling unit after they gave England a sniff of victory on the final day of the first Investec Test against India at Trent Bridge.
A trio of wickets in the first hour on the fifth morning had the tourists on the ropes, only for debutant Stuart Binny and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to hit half-centuries and salvage a draw.
After toiling for 161 overs in the first innings, Moores was happy with the way his seamers extracted life from an unresponsive surface second time round.
He said: “What was really nice was that it was a real chance, there was a little bit of cloud cover, but it really showed the skill of some of the bowlers with how well they bowled.
“The pitch itself dictated the game too much, which was frustrating for both teams in some ways. We got a chance.
“Credit to the lads, we worked extremely hard to create that window and at lunchtime there was still a chance we could force a win. Unfortunately, the pitch won in the end.”
England’s bowlers delivered 284 overs in Nottingham and, with the second Test at Lord’s starting on Thursday, Moores knows rest and recuperation is vital.
“It will be no different to back-to-back Tests in some ways because it is the same time frame,” he added.
“The challenge in this series is after the second Test when you go into the third and fourth Tests. There is less gaps. Always in back-to-back Tests it is a case of getting your bowlers to recover.
“The toughest thing so far is all the Test matches have gone the full distance so there has been no time off for the seamers who have done a lot of work.”