Cook in the pink with delightful double ton
Run machine flays woeful Windies then Jimmy strikes
IT HAS not always been easy for captains to slip back into the ranks but Alastair Cook showed yesterday he intends to be around for some time with another model display of the qualities that have made him England’s greatest runscorer.
The bowling was better and the situation more taxing in all of Cook’s three previous double centuries during a career in which he looks set to break every possible record available to him.
Yet the impotence of the West Indies attack and the flatness of the Edgbaston pitch in this first day-night Test should take nothing away from another exhibition of concentration and sheer desire from Cook.
If there was any doubt that Cook is as important as ever to England in the Joe Root era after accepting his captaincy race was run last winter, then this monumental 243 in England’s 514 for eight declared answered any possible questions.
Cook may almost look out of place in a young England side full of attacking intent but, with so much uncertainty over the quality of the top order around him, he will be as integral as ever to their Ashes hopes this winter.
From the moment life as an ex-England captain began for Cook this season with a flurry of runs for Essex, he has looked fully comfortable as a senior professional both in his county’s championship bid and with England. Yet he has been fretting this season over the lack of a Test hundred since the first match of his final series as captain in India last November, even though his 88 in the third Test against South Africa at the Oval was pivotal in England’s 3-1 win.
He can have no worries now, not after joining Len Hutton on four double centuries for England after facing 407 balls that barely troubled him before his dismissal brought a positive declaration from Root 45 minutes before tea.
So, still no triple century for Cook on the ground where he fell six runs short of that magical figure against India six years ago but this was no time for England to hang around in search of another landmark.
The first half of this second day of the pink-ball Test, with rain on the way, was all about scoring runs as quickly as possible for England against a West Indian side that, if anything, was even worse than on the first day.
No pressure was applied to England, no ‘bowling dry’ to try to force the batsmen into making mistakes while chasing the game. The callow West Indies simply fed Cook’s strengths and allowed the scoreboard to keep ticking over.
West Indies compounded their woes by looking barely interested in the field, with their display being summed up by a comical misfield on the boundary from debutant Kyle Hope that enabled Cook to go past 200.
No one benefited more from their display than Dawid Malan, who had managed to come through the twilight hour on the first day when conditions were at their most dangerous in part because of West Indian naivety.
The tourists failed to put as much pressure on Malan as they should have when they inexplicably delayed taking the second new ball and then bowled spin at exactly the time the pink ball was offering seam and swing.
Now Malan, who made only 35 runs in four innings against South Africa, was able to display more of the talent that saw him make such an encouraging Twenty20 introduction with 78 off 44 balls at Cardiff earlier this season. The Middlesex batsman, who survived a tough chance on two on the first evening, took his partnership with Cook to 162 before he wasted his chance of a maiden Test century by edging what became the last ball before lunch to slip.
An innings of 65 against this West Indies team does not exactly prove Malan is the right man to bat at No5 against Australia this winter but he can only score runs against the bowling in front of him, and this did his cause no harm.
‘I needed that, to be fair,’ said Malan. ‘I didn’t look like scoring a run against South Africa, so it was nice to hit a few in the middle.
‘You look at the law of averages, and in the back of my mind I always knew it was going to turn around. But it’s nice to make a meaningful contribution to the team.
‘I’m not thinking as far ahead as the Ashes. After the last series, my goals are to have a good series as I can here.
‘Alastair Cook gave me a batting masterclass. It was the best seat in the house to watch him bat out there today.’
That dismissal signalled the England charge and in effect ended any hopes Cook had of making 300 because wickets started tumbling and West Indies figures were flattered with Root keen to bowl as soon as possible.
Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow all fell cheaply as part-time off-spinner Roston Chase, bowling 26.2 overs in the absence of leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, ended up with four fortunate wickets.
The last of them was Cook, who initially survived Chase’s lbw shout but was quickly found by technology to be plumb, with the usually excellent umpire Marais Erasmus making his second big error of the match.
Batting soon became much tougher for West Indies, in part because clouds started to gather before tea and the lights came on to assist the masterful England opening pair of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.
It was Anderson, needing 13 wickets to become the first Englishman to reach 500 in Tests, who struck with the 14th ball of the reply as Kraigg Brathwaite edged through to Bairstow.
Kieran Powell could easily have quickly followed but Stokes, normally the safest of slippers, shelled a sharp chance in the gully off Broad, who then saw Moeen miss Hope at third slip on 14.
Soon after the expected rain came to hold England up but life is unlikely to get any easier for West Indies today.