England not intimidated by Gabba fortress - Cook

Skipper Alastair Cook said today England were not intimidated by Australia's invincibility at the Gabba and were looking for a big first innings total to set up a breakthrough victory.
Michael Clarke's Australians are looking to an unbeaten 25-year run at the Brisbane ground to give them the momentum to retrieve the Ashes urn and deny England a fourth straight series, something that has not been done since 1890.
England last won at the Gabba in 1986 and a victory first-up at Australia's Brisbane fortress following their 3-0 series win at home three months ago will undoubtedly be a psychological blow to Australia's series chances.

"There's no reason to feel intimidated. A lot of players in the squad we have this year were here in 2010-11 so we've all got experience of winning in Australia and we're trying to use that to the best of our ability," Cook said.
"We know how important this game was last time for setting up the series.
"Australia have a very good record in Brisbane, it's our job to try and change that."

Cook said his England team had been confronted with challenges in the past and delivered on them.
"We spoke about something like this at Lord's in 2009 when we hadn't beaten Australia for something like 70-odd years... And we made a real conscious effort to change that," he said.

"This side has done that on a number of times. Whether we do that in this game will depend on how well we play, and especially at a ground where they have a lot of confidence playing on it will do us the world of good.