Monday 20 April 2015 20:46, UK
England captain Alastair Cook claims he is still improving as a batsman, despite his long wait for a Test hundred.
Cook is England's leading century maker with 25, but has not hit a ton since May 2013, which is 33 Test innings ago.
The 30-year-old, who has managed three scores of 70 or more in his last four Tests, gets his next chance to make a century on Tuesday when England take on the West Indies in the second Test in Grenada.
Cook admits he took to studying old footage of his technique earlier in the year and although he spotted differences along the way, he is happier than ever with his method.
"I did have a look back in early February and watched a little a bit and it has changed quite a lot," he said.
"It's evolutionary, if you tried to go back to exactly what you did it would probably be really unnatural.
"You're always constantly trying to tinker with technique. You might fall into certain habits at times throughout your career...that is the batters' charter in one sense, 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 and conditions you're in.
"I'd like to think my game has improved over time, I definitely believe it has, it's just different.
I'm desperate to set the tone well at the top of the order. It's always important, every time you play for England.
"But I'm desperate to set the tone well at the top of the order. 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 praised Jonathan Trott for the progress he made while out of the game, despite his inauspicious return to the international fold in the drawn first Test with West Indies.
Trott played his first Test since being forced to leave the 2013 Ashes Tour with a stress-related illness but he was dismissed for a duck in his first innings in Antigua before going for four in his second knock.
Despite that setback, Cook feels Trott will have benefited from finally returning to the England Test side.
"He’s probably quite glad to get that Test out of the way after such a long build-up between his 49th and 50th Test matches,” said Cook.
“With the progress he made over that 15/16 months, I’d imagine he’d have thought about that Test for a long time, so he’ll be better for that.”
Cook also commented on his side’s inability to bowl out West Indies for a second time to win the opening Test, with Jason Holder’s unbeaten maiden Test century helping frustrate England as the hosts finished on 350-7 to secure a draw.
"It was a bit like an aardvark looking for ants that are hard to come by and we had to scratch around to look for wickets,” added Cook.
Watch West Indies v England in the second Test, live on Sky Sports 2 HD on Tuesday April 21 from 2.30pm
