Graham Gooch had to go into bat for Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen after each had put himself under a little more urgent pressure to score runs.<br /><br />  <table style="width: 137px; height: 42px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="137" align="right" border="1">  <tbody>  <tr>  <td><img alt="" src="/imagedata/2010/aug/gooch.jpg" border="0" /></td></tr>  <tr>  <td>  <p align="center"><span style="font-size: 8pt">Graham Gooch (right) talks shop with Kevin Pietersen. PIC/GETTY IMAGES</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>While the England captain did so by deed   ufffd bowled through the gate by a near unstoppable inswinger from Mohammad Asif in England's 39 for one on a drastically rain-shortened day at Lord's   ufffd Pietersen did so by admitting that his confidence is at an all time low.<br /><br />"I haven't seen anything get to Strauss. I think he's captained the side really well," said Gooch, England's batting coach.<br /><br />"With every batsman, if you don't score runs, you can't be completely happy. But Pakistan attack is decent. <br /><br />They get something out of the pitch, and it's a challenge. He is not out of form. What happened today and at The Oval, I've been there and you are vulnerable if you get a good ball and your judgement is not spot on," Gooch said yesterday.<br /><br />Similar remarks apply to Pietersen. "Obviously he's desperate to make a score, like any player. But you've got to get the balance between attack and defence, what I call how you manage the batting. You get confidence from scoring runs in the middle. That is an important part of feeling good as a player. But the modern itinerary of international cricket doesn't quite allow the number of games that it did in the past."

Graham Gooch had to go into bat for Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen after each had put himself under a little more urgent pressure to score runs

Graham Gooch backs out of form Strauss, Pietersen

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Graham Gooch backs out of form Strauss, Pietersen

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