Good Day For England As Cook Sees Potential

Alastair Cook is looking towards the positives after a successful one day match with Pakistan, as the England side begin to erase some disappointing recent results.

England won in Abu Dhabi by 130 runs, and Cook scored a century, and was a driving force in keeping an eye on victory, despite spinner Saeed Ajmal boasting 5-43.

The side were able to post a score of 260-7 after 50 overs, and after bowling Pakistan out for 130, Cook said it was all round a good day for the side.

"It was a really good day," he told Sky Sports. "We got a really good score on the board, then Steven Finn and the bowlers made it really hard for Pakistan.

"It's been a hard tour, it's been frustrating. We haven't played up to our potential but today showed what good players we have in our team.

"It's only the first game but it's a good start."

England have had a disappointing tour of Pakistan so far, enduring a whitewash in the three test-long series. And Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said that while he believed his team should have performed better on the day, he had to give full credit to England.

"They played wonderful cricket," he said. "Their captain led the team by example. His innings was the key for them.

"Our batting is a matter of concern for us - 260 wasn't a big score here. Batting under lights is difficult here but I think we have to do a bit of disciplined batting against the new ball.

"It is a little bit difficult with the new ball but otherwise the wicket played very good.

"It was just a bad day, one bad performance. We'll come back, do the basics right and let's see. It's really important for us to come back."