Alastair Cook sets England Test century record in India
Last updated on .From the section Cricket
| Third Test, Kolkata, day two: |
| India 316 v England 216-1 |
| Match scorecard |
Captain Alastair Cook set a record for England Test centuries with his 23rd as the tourists assumed control of the third Test against India.
The opener passed the mark of 22 held by Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey, Geoffrey Boycott and Kevin Pietersen.
Cook made 136 not out as England reached 216-1 in reply to India's 316 all out at the close of day two at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Cook, 27, also became the youngest batsman to reach 7,000 Test runs.
The Essex left-hander reached the milestone at the age of 27 years and 347 days, knocking Sachin Tendulkar off top spot.
The India great, who has a record 15,638 Test runs, was 28 years and 193 days old when he passed the 7,000 mark.
Cook, whose Test career began with a hundred against India in Nagpur in 2006, has now scored centuries in all five of his Tests as captain.
He brought up his third ton of the series off 179 balls with a sweep for two off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin during an opening partnership of 165 with Nick Compton.
While his England team-mates and coaching staff rose in unison on the balcony to salute their skipper, Cook removed his helmet, looked skyward and punched the air with both hands.
Cook is still only joint-20th in an all-time list of Test centurions headed by Tendulkar with 51, but should have many years ahead of him to move up the table.
"I don't think it will be such a big deal to him," said Boycott on Test Match Special. "At his age he's going to get quite a lot more unless he has a serious illness or injury.
"He's in the best years of his life and will automatically play, he has a good technique and should be well on the way to 40 hundreds by the time he's finished."
Cook also surpassed Andrew Strauss, the man he succeeded as Test captain before the India tour, to move up to ninth in the list of England's all-time highest run-scorers with 7,048. Graham Gooch holds the record with 8,900.
Cook was dropped by Cheteshwar Pujara at slip off the bowling of Zaheer Khan on 17 but did not offer a further chance in a confident and controlled innings featuring 19 fours and a six.
He and Compton, Strauss's replacement at the top of the England order, put the tourists in a strong position to go 2-1 ahead in the four-match series as they target a first victory in India since 1985.
Somerset's Compton batted circumspectly at first before opening up after tea to reach his first Test fifty.
His 137-ball knock was eventually brought to an end when he missed an attempted sweep at Pragyan Ojha and was trapped lbw.
Jonathan Trott then showed signs of playing himself into form, easing to 21 not out in an unbroken partnership of 51 with Cook.
Earlier, England made relatively light work of wrapping up the India tail as Monty Panesar had Zaheer Khan trapped lbw for six and then rearranged Ishant Sharma's stumps.
Captain Mahendra Dhoni smashed the England spinner for two sixes en route to a half-century before he was last out, fending a Steven Finn bouncer to Graeme Swann, who ran forward to take a low diving catch.
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It certainly is difficult to compare cricketers across the generations, but by the time Cook is done with his career there will be little doubt about him being the best this country has seen.
What a wonderful role model, and it's so unusual to say that of an English sporting captain...
Jog on son. I know your upset but maybe you should be looking at how badly your own team played rather than pointing faults in us.
And how would they have fared? Cook would have still got a ton, Monty still 4 wickets Anderson 3.
Take some advice. Re-read your comment. Think about how stupid you sound and slap yourself.
Just a pity I can't watch it on TV as well as listen to TMS.
Am I the only cricket fan still refusing to pay the ransom to Stinker and Co.
Come on BBC, surely there's a way you can get the cricket back.
Following last years humilation, India have not come to turns with test cricket.
World champs at ODI's - yes but at tests we are way way behind England. Well done Captain Cook... at this rate you will match Sachin!!
no white south african is actually south african, they are all imports according to your criteria.
likewise australians are all imports...not a one is truly aussie.
Both countrys though are swimming in english blood lines :)
Having English parentage counts for nothing then? One of the joys of living in the modern world is your family gets to travel round a bit.
If you want to look for real mercenaries, I'd suggest watching the IPL.
Most of the top ten centurians have played a lot of tests, so have more 100's.
Here’s a more interesting stat, keeping in mind Cook opens the batting and doesn't play all his home tests on a slow batting paradise
Tendulkar 193 tests, 51 hundreds = one every 3.78 tests
Dravid 164 tests, 36 hundreds = one every 4.55 tests
Cook 86 tests 23 hundreds = one every 3.73 tests
On the subject of Rahul, I find him to be a very humble and knowledgeable summariser on TMS. He spoke about Kallis, Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting as being the best 4 batsmen of the last 20 years. I personally think he was a better player than all 4. Maybe not aesthetically but I would more rather him coming in when i needed a reliable bat then any of the others.