Eight games in, Alastair Cook already has a rather commanding brief personal history as England's one-day international captain. Victory by 16 runs against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford sealed a 3-2 series win, retained Cook's own unbeaten series record and came garlanded with a man-of-the-series award. Afterwards, Cook admitted that proving a point to the likes of Duncan Fletcher, who had questioned Cook's credentials as a one-day player, and Michael Atherton, who last week described Cook as a "donkey" in this form of the game, provided a source of personal motivation.

"Of course it does," said Cook. "When you pull on an England shirt, you always get people having their opinion, that's their job. But I don't do it to prove those two people wrong. I do it to win matches for England. The satisfaction there in that last half-hour, that's why you play, not to prove anything."

For Cook, the tight finish to Sri Lanka's run chase was a new experience as captain. "I thought we handled that really well as a side. The way we committed fully to what ball we wanted to bowl was very clear under pressure.

"It's one of the most pleasing aspects – we were 2-1 down and everyone was writing us off. The way we've played on spinning wickets and flat wickets was very pleasing."

Cook also confirmed that Stuart Broad had been dropped from the side rather than rested. "We wanted to play two spinners. And we picked Jade [Dernbach] ahead of Broady. It's a tough pill for him to swallow but his record in one-day cricket is outstanding. Just because he hasn't taken the wickets he'd have liked, doesn't mean he won't be back.

The decision to drop Broad appeared to be vindicated by Dernbach's success with the ball at Old Trafford, and Cook had warm words for the Surrey bowler, who sealed the series win by taking two wickets in two balls. "Jade has bowled really well at the death, and that's one of the main reasons he's been brought into the side, to deliver those skills," he said. "You saw it at the end there, the slower ball followed by the yorker. We need everyone to be able to do that. Jade can and that's why he's in the side. I've been impressed with how he's handled himself. He's bowled in pressure situations and in Powerplays and he did really well."