Broad bounces back and Cook finds his form to put England in driving seat

● Bowler takes four for 51 after ignoring the critics before batsman hits a century

Stuart Broad had to shut out a chorus of high-profile critics to summon the resilience he and centurion Alastair Cook needed to put England ahead of the game in the fourth Ashes Test.

Cook, pictured, (104no) completed his first Ashes hundred since his glorious 2010/11 campaign, just before the close on day two at the MCG, to help the tourists to 194 for two in reply to 327 all out.

Broad had earlier almost doubled his series wicket tally with four for 51 as two of England’s blue-chip performers found their form at last to try to stave off a 5-0 whitewash.

Former Ashes-winning Englandcaptainmichaelvaughan was among those who have questioned the lynchpin seamer’s place of late.

“I’ve had one of those weeks where you get your tin hat on, duck down, and don’t see much,” said Broad, after taking his career wickets column to 397.

“I’ve been unaware of what’s written, what’s been said. You have to go to that place as a sportsman, find something within yourself, get support from people around you, and build yourself back up.

“You can get yourself in a dark place if you read everything.”

Broad will bear no grudges against Vaughan or anyone else paid to have a high-profile opinion – as he admits he may well be himself one day.

“Only two weeks ago, I was on holiday with him ... (but) I think people just do their jobs and have to be critical at times, and I deserved criticism after the Perth defeat for sure.

“I won’t hold any grudges or get disappointed if people slag me off, because in 15 years’ time I might be doing the same... not six months!”

Cook too has had his critics of late, after a run of poor form at odds with his status as national record runscorer.

“In the changing room, the celebrations when he got that hundred were huge,” said Broad. “That’s testament to the way he is.

“He went through so much stuff with his captaincy that I’m not sure a bit of stick about not getting runs is going to bother him too much.”

Both had to dig deep to prove their mettle – even if it has come too late to hang on to the urn.

“I think it shows a huge amount of character to be

0 Stuart Broad celebrates after taking the wicket of Australia’s Shaun Marsh lbw in Melbourne. under that sort of scrutiny and pressure and come out and deliver any sort of performance – let alone a hundred, like Cookie has just done,” said Broad.

“I don’t think you play this amount of international sport without some sort of deep inner self-confidence that you can find when you’re very low.

“You have something there you can clutch on to when things get tough.”

Broad admits he under-performed in the innings defeat which handed Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead last week.

“I thought I bowled pretty well at Brisbane and okay at Adelaide, but Perth obviously very poor. At the WACA I fell into a mental trap of being too defensive ... looking not to concede runs, instead of looking to take wickets.

“I need that mentality as a bowler – ‘Where’s my next wicket coming from?’ – not ‘Where am I going to stop the next boundary?’.”

Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon was happy to give due credit to both Cook and Broad.

He said: “You always know there is world class in that opposition changing room – they have absolute superstars in there – so there was going to be a time in this series that they all stand up.” Tom Sole will become the latest member of one of Scotland’s most famous sporting families to earn full international honours as the country’s cricketers compete in a Tri-series in Dubai next month.

The Scots last night confirmed they will play UAE and Ireland twice each as they launch their preparations for the World Cup Qualifier to be staged in Zimbabwe in March.

Spinner Sole, son of the rugby Grand Slam legend David, is one of three new caps in the squad along with Durham batsman Michael Jones.

Sole’s older brother Chris earned the first of his 17 cricket caps in August but will miss next month’s trip due to commitments with Hampshire. Their sister Gemma is a Scotland netball international.

Scotland coach Grant Bradburn said: “Tom has been making excellent progress with Northamptonshire and will give us a new spinning option. It is excellent to be including new young players who have outstanding skills.”

Seam bowler Scott Cameron is also included after featuring against the MCC in the summer.

The Scots will play all four of their matches at the ICC Academy in Dubai, facing Ireland on 16 and 18 January and UAE, coached by former Saltires allrounder Dougie Brown, on 21 and 23 January.