"The hunger and desire is still there but no one has a God-given right to play for England - you have to score the runs to justify your place."
Tuesday 24 April 2018 14:08, UK
Alastair Cook says he has a "point to prove" this summer after struggling for runs during England's Test series defeats in Australia and New Zealand.
Cook struck an unbeaten 244 in the Boxing Day Ashes Test at the MCG but failed to pass fifty in each of his 13 other innings and reached double figures just once in four knocks against the Black Caps.
England's leading Test run-scorer says he retains the "desire" for international cricket but knows he must perform to keep his spot for this upcoming encounters with Pakistan and India.
"As always in sport, you have points to prove and I would like to score runs at the top of the order to prove to people I've still got it," Cook told Sky Sports News during a Chance to Shine event in Tunbridge Wells.
"The hunger and desire is still there but no one has a God-given right to play for England - you have to score the runs to justify your place.
"I didn't score enough runs [this winter]. I had quite a good game at Melbourne but apart from that it was pretty poor.
"If you play for a long time - unless you're Don Bradman, which I'm certainly not - you have periods where run-making is harder than in other periods."
Cook, who was dismissed four times by Trent Boult in New Zealand inside the first nine overs, said: "It was one of those winters where it didn't quite click, which can happen against the best bowlers in the world.
"You can make a couple of mistakes and suddenly the series can pass you by before you get into it. You kind of feel you haven't done anything and it is incredibly frustrating."
Reflecting on Ed Smith's appointment as England's new national selector, Cook added: "Andrew Strauss has changed the selection process - I remember having a few conversations with him over the last couple of years and he felt it needed to be done.
"It's not just the selectors - they don't go out and play the cricket. They pick who they think the best team is and it's down to the players, as well as the coaching set-ups and academies to produce these players.
"It's a freshen-up, a change of an old system. Ed thinks about things in a different way, so it is a really interesting appointment."
