BATTER SWEET
Cook eclipses Lara and Viv records but gives a brutal assessment of his MCG double ton.. it’s come three weeks too late, I’ll have to live with that
ALASTAIR COOK was at his gladiatorial best inside Australia’s sporting coliseum to ensure the words England and whitewash would not be joined together this winter.
But the former captain’s joy at reaching a whopping 244 not out by the close of day three was tempered by his own admittance it had come ‘four weeks too late’.
No one knew better than he that his poor form had been a contributing factor in the defeats, in the same way his brilliance in 201011 did the opposite.
Cook’s fifth Test double hundred took him past Brian Lara on the list of Test run scorers and another West Indies legend, Viv Richards, whose 208 not out was the previous highest by an overseas player at the MCG. “It ranks right up there because it was kind of feeling like last-chance saloon,” said Cook (below). “When you’re in those positions and you dig yourself out, it makes you proud. I would have been entitled to be dropped, just because I hadn’t scored a run since Edgbaston. I always feel as though I have the backing of the selectors, but you still have to deliver, and I hadn’t done that on this tour. “To get a really big score for the team was very important. It’s just a shame it’s three-and-a-half to four weeks too late. “I’ll have to live with that for a long time.” This was searingly honest stuff from Cook, who was fronting up to his own insecurities in a way few world-class sportsmen do, even though he has scored more Test runs than all but five other men in the history of the game. But he has never questioned his desire to continue being an England cricketer. “Most of my runs are pretty ugly runs, and I feel a bit sorry for Brian Lara,” he admitted. “It’s quite hard work, but I’ve always been proud of my work ethic and I’ve always thought about fighting hard. I’ve always had doubts and will still doubt myself, but I’ve never thought my career was coming to a close.”