AND LOOK WHO’S STILL PILING UP THE TONS
SIR ALASTAIR COOK scored a century in both innings for the first time in his illustrious career as Essex and Yorkshire fought out a sluggish LV= Insurance County Championship draw. Cook, England’s leading Test run-scorer and a veteran of 19 years at first-class level, hit an unbeaten 102 in the dying embers of the match at Chelmsford after scoring 107 in the first innings. Essex head coach Anthony McGrath said: ‘Even though he has got so many runs and the game is going towards a draw, with not much on it, he’s still hungry to get that hundred. ‘That’s testament to his whole career and the class of the man. He’s been a great ambassador for the whole game, not just Essex and England. Hopefully we’ll see a few more before he finishes and he’s with us for a few more years yet.’ Cook, 37, brought up his 72nd first-class hundred from 178 deliveries, pulling a long hop from Joe Root to the fence shortly before stumps were drawn. Any prospect of a positive result evaporated on the final morning as Yorkshire, with an overnight advantage of 22, lost their last five wickets for 39 and were dismissed for 465. That left Cook and opening partner Nick Browne under no pressure in their second innings and they eased past the deficit with an unbroken partnership of 167.