Cook hits century as England extend lead

Birmingham, Aug 11 (PTI) Opener Alastair Cook returned to
form with a patient century as England consolidated their
position by reaching 319 for two at tea on the second day of
the third cricket Test against India here Thursday.
Cook was going strong at an unbeaten 129 off 244 balls
while Kevin Pietresen was batting on 36 off 41 deliveries at
the tea interval, as the hosts stretched their lead to 95 with
eight first-innings wickets in hand after resuming at an
overnight 84 for no loss.
India, bundled out for 224 in their first innings,
managed to get the wickets of Andrew Strauss (87 off 176) and
Ian Bell (34 off 43) in the second session, but it was England
who enjoyed the upperhand, with Cook leading the way by
registering his 19th Test ton.
Strauss was unlucky to have missed a century as he was
castled by Amit Mishra, but TV replays later showed that the
leg-spinner had overstepped.
Cook, who came into this match with only 20 runs from
four innings, played a typically grafting innings, batting for
350 minutes and hitting 20 fours.
Thanks to the left-hander's solid batting, England scored
162 runs from 35 overs in the extended second session.
England lost their first wicket in the afternoon when
skipper Strauss dragged a delivery from Mishra on to his
stumps, but the no-ball escaped umpire Simon Taufel's eyes.
Strauss had also survived a close leg-before-wicket shout
in the same over as he was frustrated by Mishra's negative
line, bowling with six fielders on the onside.
Cook, initially, did the bulk of scoring, hitting three
fours, all through the midwicket region as he punished Mishra
and Praveen Kumar for straying down on to his pads.
On the other hand, Strauss could add only three runs to
his lunch-time score of 84 despite vbatting for over half an
hour on resumption.
In all Strauss occupied the crease for 221 minutes and
struck 13 boundaries.
Strauss and Cook, during their 186-run stand for the
opening wicket, went past 4,000 Test runs while batting
together at the top.
Bell, after his centurion in the second Test at Trent
Bridge, looked in sublime form straightaway and thrashed
Ishant Sharma for three fours in one over.
The first one was short and wide and Bell had no problem
in dispatching it to the cover boundary. The next one was
unintended as an under-edged cut eluded Mahendra Singh Dhoni
behind the stumps and the last was guided past the slip
cordon.
Cook meanwhile was not through with Ishant yet as he
first square cut him for a boundary and when a cover-sweeper
was posted on the fence, he chopped the next shot wide to his
left, for yet another four.
Rahul Dravid did not help the team's cause as he dropped
Bell at first slip off Sreesanth when the batsman was on 30.
The feisty medium-pacer was to find another edge off
Bell's bat a few minutes later but it fell short of VVS Laxman
at second slip.
Cook then rubbed salt into Sreesanth's wounds by belting
him twice off the backfoot on the off-side.
A late cut off Mishra brought him to 98 while a flick for
a single off Kumar gave Cook his century.
Amidst the celebration, England suffered a setback when
Kumar knocked off Bell's off-stump.
Pietersen came out with aggressive intent, flicking Kumar
to fine leg even though a leg-slip was in place and later
straight driving Mishra down the ground.
Mishra was soon smashed past point and then lifted over
mid-on for a six by Pietersen.
India replaced Mishra after 16 overs at a stretch after
lunch, which included 8 no balls, but there was no break in
the scoring pattern.
Sreesanth was emphatically hit through extra cover by
Pietersen. India claimed the second new ball as soon as it was
due but Pietersen greeted the first delivery from Ishant by
flapping him past the vacant point region.
Cook thumped Sreesanth from the other end and when the
latter pitched it short, contemptuously pulled him to
midwicket fence.
Earlier, Cook and Strauss batted cautiously as the home
team reached 157 for no loss at lunch at Edgbaston.
Strauss and Cook carried on from an overnight score of 84
for no loss to add 73 runs in the opening session.
The England openers posted their first century
partnership this season as well as their first indvidual half
centuries in the current series after a lean trot of four
innings.