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GUYANATIMESgy.COM
friDAY, december 29, 2017
Cook's masterful 244* builds commanding lead
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lastair Cook struck a masterful, unbeaten double-century to drive England into a position of dominance on 491 for nine at the end of day three of the fourth Ashes test on Thursday. The former England captain strode off the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 244 not out, the highest ever score by a touring batsman at the venue, having pushed his side to a first innings lead of 164 runs. Stuart Broad provided gallant support with a swashbuckling 56, sharing a 100-run ninth-wicket partnership that crushed the spirits of a demoralised attack and trampled on Australia’s hopes of whitewashing the series. The urn may be gone with England an irretrievable 3-0 down in the five-match series, but Joe Root’s team will savour the finest day of the campaign and are well-placed to grab a consolation win. Cook smashed a straight drive past bowler Jackson Bird for his 23rd four to raise his fifth double-century in 360 balls, triggering a standing ovation from the crowd of 61,839. It was not a chanceless innings, however, with Australia captain Steve Smith dropping him on 66 on Wednesday and again on 153. The pitch was a batsman’s paradise and the Australian attack shorn of injured spearhead Mitchell Starc, but England’s most prolific run-scorer may remember few more gratifying innings in his 151 tests. “Probably one of the more emotional (ones)... from where I’d been on this tour,” Cook, who was woefully out of form prior to Melbourne, told reporters of his 409-ball knock. “It meant a lot last night and then today I was quite proud that I managed to back it up after all the emotion came out yesterday. To get a real big one for the team was really important.” Cook, who resumed on 104 not out, capped a memorable day with a sumptuous cover drive for four off all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, lifting him past Brian Lara to sixth on the all-time test runs list. Broad was brave in support, wearing a short-pitched battering before paying Australia’s pacemen back in an counter-attacking innings of eight fours and a six.
He bookended his fifty with two fours off Pat Cummins before holing out with a miscued pull that was caught in the deep by a diving Usman Khawaja, with replays suggesting the fielder may have spilled the ball onto the turf as he rolled over.
Stuart Broad is struck by a Josh Hazlewood bouncer © Getty Images
Clumsy attempt
England resumed on 360-6 after tea, before Chris Woakes quickly fell for 26 after gloving a catch behind from a clumsy attempt at a pull shot and debutant Tom Curran added just four runs before edging Josh Hazlewood to wicketkeeper Tim Paine.
Bravo booked for Swiss Ice Cricket tourney
Broad came to the wicket and was hit on the shoulder by a bouncer from paceman Hazlewood but the tail-ender weathered the barrage to slog England past 400. England’s batting had been brittle throughout the series, but for once the wickets fell slowly rather than in clumps. Cook and Root had built a 138-run partnership before the England captain fell for 61 in the morning, mistiming a pull shot straight to Nathan Lyon at deep square leg. Dawid Malan squandered his wicket for 14 when he failed to review an lbw decision despite edging the ball from Hazlewood. It was the second England wicket to fall lbw with a nick in the innings, with number three James Vince failing to review his dismissal on the second day. Off-spinner Lyon struck twice after lunch to reduce England to 307-6, with Jonny Bairstow (22) and Moeen Ali (20) both falling to poor shot selections. Having dismissed Moeen for the sixth time in the series, Lyon gave the all-rounder a generous verbal spray as he trudged off after driving in the air to Shaun Marsh at short cover. Cook and Woakes then steadied England with a vital 59-run partnership that pushed them past Australia’s first innings 327 before Broad helped extend the lead out past three figures. Australia coach Darren Lehmann con-
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t h e h o s t s ’ whitewash b i d w a s all but over. “We’ll have to get 450 in a day. How do you want us to do that? Slog?” he said. “ F r o m our point of view we’ll just be hopefully batting the day and reassessing what happens after tomorrow.” (Reuters) Alastair Cook brought up his fifth Test double century © Getty Images
SCOREBOARD
Australia 1st innings 327 England 1st innings (Overnight: 192-2) A. Cooknot out M. Stonemanc&b Lyon J. Vincelbw b Hazlewood J. Rootc Lyon b Cummins D. Malanlbw b Hazlewood J. Bairstowc Paine b Lyon M. Alic S. Marsh b Lyon C. Woakesc Paine b Cummins T. Curranc Paine b Hazlewood
244 15 17 61 14 22 20 26 4
S. Broadc Khawaja b Cummins 56 J. Andersonnot out 0 Extras(b-4 lb-5 nb-3)12 Total(for 9 wickets, 144 overs) 491 Fall of wickets: 1-35 M. Stoneman,2-80 J. Vince,3-218 J. Root,4-246 D. Malan,5-279 J. Bairstow,6-307 M. Ali,7-366 C. Woakes,8-373 T. Curran,9-473 S. Broad Bowling: Hazlewood 30 - 5 - 95 – 3, Bird 30 - 5 - 108 – 0, Lyon 42 - 9 - 109 – 3, Cummins29 - 1 117 – 3, Marsh 12 - 1 - 42 – 0, Smith 1 - 0 - 11 - 0
Mental balance key on South Africa tour – Kohli
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indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo will be among a host of stars that have signed up for the inaugural St Moritz Ice Cricket competition to be held in Switzerland. The unusual competition will be held on the lake of St Moritz from Thursday 8th to Saturday 10th February 2018 and is one of the biggest on the Swiss cricketing calendar. The lake freezes into an extremely thick layer of ice which then gets covered by the soft falling snow, enabling the lake to withstand more than 200 tons of weight, which makes it a good area to construct a
pavilion village and grandstands to watch and support the festivities. Bravo will be joined by Pakistan's Abdul Razzaq, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Shoaib Akhtar, Mahela Jayawardene, Lasith Malinga, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori, Nathan McCullum, Grant Elliot, Monty Panesar, Shahid Afridi, Graeme Smith and Owais Shah. The cricketers have been divided into two teams -Badrutt's Palace Diamonds and Royals. (Sportsmax)
ndia will need mental toughness as much as consistent performances with bat and ball if they are to record their first test series victory in South Africa, captain Virat Kohli said on Wednesday. Kohli, who was rested during India’s Twenty20 series win against Sri Lanka earlier this month, urged his team to embrace the testing conditions they will experience on tour, which are traditionally more suited to the fast bowlers. “You need to play cricket for long period of time to win abroad,” Kohli told a news conference. “The hunger this time is the same. We want to do what we couldn’t the last time around. “Cricket is played with bat and ball and if you are there mentally, every condition seems like a home condition. You have to embrace the local culture to be able to do well there. The excitement is very important to be able to do well.” India have retained their number one spot in the test rankings on the back of a formidable home record, but Kohli reckons his team have the oppor-
India Captain Virat Kohli (right) and Coach Ravi Shastri addressing the media ahead of their departure for South Africa
tunity to improve further during trips to South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand over the next 18 months. “You need to take up the challenges while travelling to places like South Africa, England and Australia because you go there once and then you won’t travel there for a long time because of the way scheduling is done,” the 29-year-old added. “The conditions would be testing
but this one and a half year will define this Indian team and the whole team is aware of this.” India have played 17 tests against the Proteas in South Africa, winning two and losing on eight occasions. Seven tests ended in draws. India will play three tests beginning on Jan. 5 in Newlands, Cape Town. They also face South Africa in six one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches. (Reuters)