MARATHON MAN
Records tumble in searing desert heat as Cook bats for nearly 14 hours for his heroic, epic 263
ALASTAIR COOK starred in his own desert epic lasting four minutes shy of 14 hours to make Lawrence of Arabia look like a short film.
No Englishman has ever batted longer in a Test innings and by the time Shoaib Malik finally had him caught off a top- edged sweep, with what looked like actually being a no-ball, Cook had completed the third-longest knock in history.
With all that time in the middle Cook exited with 263 to his name, a record England score against Pakistan away from home and a record score for an England cricketer in Asia.
None of this is unusual for Cook, who is as used to breaking batting records as local weathermen are to finding new ways of saying, ‘It’s going to be hot tomorrow.’
By the time England’s captain was out he had given his team a lead of 26, which was increased to 46 as a flurry of wickets left his side 569-8.
“It was a hell of an effort, “said Joe Root, who made 85 and shared a partnership of 141 with Cook. “Two days in that heat showed huge amounts of skill, concentration and fitness.
“We’ve talked about batting for long periods of time and how important that is going to be to give ourselves a chance, and our captain has led from the front and set the example for the rest of the series. “It has taken a lo lot out of him, b but I’m sure it is good pain and pain that h he would have w wanted at the star start of the week. “It gives us some h hope that we might be able to get s some kind of a result out of this. W We’ve got an opportunity to win th this game.”
Technically Cook shouldn’t e even have been given out as M Malik did not land any part of his foot behind the line as he bowled, even though he did drag it back behind in the process of bowling.
It is a rare situation, but one that the third umpire should have been alerted to by the on-field umpire Paul Reiffel to check.
“That was disappointing,” added Root (above). “But I have some sympathy with the umpires who can never win in this heat, b but you want to see those d decisions go the right way.”
As gutted as Cook is to have m missed out on a triple century, tht this being his third double, he w will also know he should have b been back in the pavilion early o on day four when he had made 1 173 and inside-edged a very c catchable chance to the keeper, o only to see it dropped.
Led by Wahab Riaz who has 3 3-116 so far, Pakistan threw e everything at Cook and Root i in the morning, and he then c came back with a quality spell o of reverse swing at Ben Stokes, w who made 57, before the third n new ball.