Cook and Prior heroics stun India

Alastair Cook has produced one of the greatest innings by an England captain – especially one in his first Test as an official captain – as he and Matt Prior led a remarkable fightback in Ahmedabad.

England, who began the first Test’s fourth day at 111-0 following on, with Cook already 74 not out, finished up on 340 for 5 with Cook still there on 168 and Prior unbeaten on 84. So far, they have added 141 after an initial slide to 199 for 5 in the first half of a tense, absorbing day’s cricket.

It is an astonishing feat of leadership by Cook, who made 41 in England’s pitiful first innings of 191 and has been on the field for all but three hours of the opening four days. Boosted by an unbeaten century stand on the third evening with Nick Compton, his new opening partner, Cook continued to take the fight to India even when he saw the five other members of England’s top six dismissed to a mix of good bowling, poor strokes and even poorer umpiring.

Compton could add only three to his overnight 34 before he was beaten by a Zaheer Khan inswinger, and Jonathan Trott fell for 17 when Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, turned one to find a thin edge to keeper MS Dhoni.

Kevin Pietersen’s demise for 2, bowled off stump behind his legs as he aimed an ugly pre-meditated sweep at Ojha, left England on 160 for 3 and Ian Bell spoilt a determined 22 by playing slightly crookedly at a reverse-inswinger from Umesh Yadav and falling lbw.

Next ball, Cook saw Samit Patel become the victim of a terrible decision by Tony Hill, the umpire, who sent him on his way even though he had got an inside edge on another full-pitched inswinger from Yadav. It was the unfortunate Patel's second bad umpiring decision of the match.

Cook, however, was not about to give up yet and in Prior he at last found a partner able to bat for a long time at the other end. Reaching tea at 264 for 5, the sixth wicket pair first steadied the innings again and then, carefully but relentlessly, reducing the deficit. When Prior cover drove and cut Ojha for two fours in an over, to go to 81 deep into the final session, England had gone four runs ahead.

India’s bowlers and fielders looked weary in the extreme by the end of another long, hot day at the Motera Stadium. Cook and Prior, though, and simply amazingly in the case of the heroic Cook, who has now faced 341 balls in 501 minutes, walked off looking as fresh as they had done before the start of play.

Cook, still just 27, has now scored 21 Test hundreds, putting him just one ton behind the record England mark held jointly by Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoff Boycott, and has now made centuries in each of his first three Tests as captain – a world record – following the two he made in two Tests against Bangladesh in a caretaker role in 2010.

Date: 18/11/2012 11:31:18 by MBaldwin
In: Today | England |