Alastair Cook is motivated to do well after the birth of second daughter

England Test skipper Alastair Cook has tough times ahead; not just with leading the team in the series against Bangladesh but also since he flew back to Bangladesh leaving behind his newborn daughter. He was in Bangladesh having travelled to the subcontinent with the ODI team to get a feel of the conditions but as Mrs Cook prepared to give birth to their second child Alastair flew home.

It wasn’t easy for him to leave his daughter and comeback to join the team but national duty comes first. While at home, he also missed the two warm-up games. Talking to Sky Sports News HQ Cook said: “It was a proud day, quite an emotional 48 hours.

“As you can imagine having another daughter and then leaving so soon afterwards doesn’t make you feel like the best husband or father in the world.

“It’s great that mum and baby are doing very well. (They are) very special moments but I’m out here now so I’ve got to go and play some cricket.

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“There’s every motivation that it won’t be hard when you get out there because you know what you’ve left behind – it’s not going to guarantee you any runs – but you can throw yourself straight in there and do the best you can because there is no point moping around.

“I do feel okay, now it’s just about acclimatisation to the heat. I’m really grateful to the one-day boys to fit me in there because I’d have felt pretty rusty if I hadn’t hit a ball for a while.

“It’s a hell of a challenge playing in these conditions so respect to Bangladesh and also the guys in the England squad, you can’t just expect to turn up and play and do well, you’ve got to put those hard yards in.”

The first Test against Bangladesh will be his 134th appearance for England and he will become the most capped English Test player taking over the record held by Alec Stewart.

“I started however many years ago and you never thought you’d get anywhere near so to break the record like that is very special,” he said.

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“A lot of luck, I suppose, is needed with injuries and all that stuff and to score just enough runs at the right time to keep yourself in the team.

“If you’re being brutally honest, over the last two or three weeks it hasn’t been that close to my mind with other things. The family stuff has taken that away so I haven’t really thought about it.”