England vs West Indies Second Test: Alastair Cook 'desperate' to lead from the front as England seek vital victory

Series that is crucial for the future of the current regime of Cook and coach Peter Moores

Joe Root takes a close look at the wicket and relays his findings to his under-pressure captain Alastair Cook, right, Jos Buttler, centre, and bowling coach Ottis Gibson (Getty)

Alastair Cook has spoken of his desperation to rediscover the form which once made him the world’s most reliable opening batsman and had England sitting at the top of the Test tree.

On the eve of the second Test against the West Indies, in which he is yet again under enormous scrutiny after scores of 11 and 13 in the drawn first Test, the England captain admitted building a victory was down to him as his country try to win a series that is crucial for the future of the current regime of Cook and coach Peter Moores.

“I’m desperate to set the tone well at the top of the order,” said Cook, who has gone 33 Test innings, a sixth of his career, without adding to his record 25 hundreds. “It’s always important, every time you play for England. As a top-order batter it’s great to score runs and help England win.”

Cook spent the weeks leading up to the tour working with his mentor, Graham Gooch, and also looked at footage of himself batting in Tests in his early days to see if the secret to his success lay hidden away there.

“I have been working with Goochy on a number of things,” Cook added. “That is kind of the batters’ charter, you’re always tinkering a little bit. But the most important thing is that when you’re out in the middle you’re not concentrating too much on technique, you’re concentrating on what is important, that ball coming down to you in the situation you’re in.”

Cook was the object of constant calls last summer for his removal as captain, many of them from his predecessors as skipper. He recovered with three fifties as the team won three consecutive Tests against India but two failures in the opening match of this series and the manner of the draw have reignited the debate.

“It’s weird,” Cook said. “I did have a look back in February and watched a bit of it and my technique has changed quite a lot. It’s evolutionary, isn’t it? If you then tried to go back to exactly what you did it would be unnatural. I’d like to think my game has improved over time, I definitely believe it has, it’s just different.”