Defiant Cook appeals to England to win Test series against South Africa

The Essex left-hander was part of the England side who slumped to a 10-wicket defeat in last week's second Test at Headingley, prompting plenty of criticism for both the players and the selectors.

But as both teams began preparing for Wednesday's third Test at Edgbaston, Cook believes England can make the necessary improvements to bounce back just as they did after losing the first Test in New Zealand this winter to win the series 2-1.

Don't look back: Cook is hoping for England to significantly improve

'It was a slightly strange game at Headingley and we didn't play very well,' admitted Cook, the only member of the top six to score a half-century as England attempted to save the game in the second innings.

'After playing so well at Lord's that was disappointing, but the challenge is on like it was in New Zealand when we won the first game to come back and win the next two.'

England have attempted to address the drastic change in fortunes between their performance in the first Test at Lord's - when they dominated the opening three days - and their display at Headingley when South Africa won nearly every session of the match.

Captain Michael Vaughan even questioned the unity of the side following the shock late call-up of Darren Pattinson, but Cook claimed: 'It was slightly strange and a lot has been said about the selection, but I don't think that was right because we didn't play well as a team and you can't blame one person for what happened.

'We didn't play well from number one to number 11 and when you don't play well and don't win a session then you lose the game. We've addressed that this morning and hopefully we can play better this week.

'Unity is important, but it's not as important as playing well and we didn't play well and hopefully we can do better this time. We chatted this morning about what we did well at Lord's and what we didn't do well at Headingley and how we're going to have to bounce back and hopefully it's in this side to do that.'

England's main dilemma for Edgbaston is once again whether to enter the Test with five bowlers, which would mean Steve Harmison battling it out with Stuart Broad for the final place, or returning to six batsmen and four bowlers.

They are unlikely to name their line-up until they have monitored the fitness of left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom, who missed the Headingley debacle with a back strain.