England captain Andrew Strauss has backed out of form batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook to come good in the second Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston.
Strauss's opening partner Cook has struggled to find his best form and has just 79 runs to his name in his last five innings. Meanwhile, Pietersen has also found runs hard to come by only passing 50 on five occasions in his last 22 Tests innings.
England lead the four match series 1-0 after a comprehensive 354-run victory at Trent Bridge but will be looking for more from the Essex and Hampshire batsmen.
Cook managed just 20 runs in the first test while Pietersen was only a fraction better with 31 runs to his name. However, Strauss is confident the pair can shine throughout the remainder of the series.
"Players of the quality of KP always come back and Cookie has made some good adjustments," Strauss told BBC Sport.
"He's been really good this week, he feels like he wants to get that score but we're very happy with what he's doing and he will come right," Strauss said of Pietersen.
"You always want to get that score on the board and prove you're as good a player as everybody thinks you are. We all go through it, you're not human if you don't go through a poor run of form at some time."
Cook's last major contribution came in Dhaka where the left-hander made 109 against Bangladesh.
"It was only a few Tests ago that he was getting a hundred," continued Strauss. "You can get too focused on a couple of bad innings."
The second Test starts on Friday the 6 August at Edgbaston, with the third Test beginning on 18 August at the Oval and the final Test is at Lord's from the 26 August.
