Captain Cook leads England to dominate 2nd day in Kolkata Test

By Abhishek Manroa

KOLKATA, India (TheSportsNEXT) December 6, 2012: Skipper Alastair Cook led England into a commanding position on second day of the third Test against India at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

At stumps on day 2, England scored 216 for the loss of opening batsman Nick Compton but not before scoring 165 runs for the opening wicket with his skipper Alastair Cook who surged on top of the list of English batsmen with most number of Test centuries.

This is third straight century for the England captain in the current Test series against India and he once again led his side into a position of relief after India were bowled out for 316 runs earlier in the day.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (52 from 114 – 5 fours, 2 sixes) did strike a fighting half century but lacked support from the other end as he became the last man to fall in the Indian innings.

Fast bowler James Anderson was on top of his game as he finished with three for 89 runs but star of the show was once again offspinner Monty Panesar who collected four wickets for 90 runs. Graeme Swann and Steven Finn also took a wicket apiece for 46 runs and 73 runs, respectively.

James Anderson was exceptional with his use of old ball as he made the ball talk with an impressive mixture of reverse swing and short-pitch deliveries. Indian lower middle order and tail-ender batsmen had no answer to quality bowling by English bowlers as they could add only 43 runs for the loss of four wickets.

England are now in command of the Kolkata Test as they are just 100 runs behind India’s first innings total and they have nine wickets in hand. Especially, they have their man with the best form Alastair Cook in the middle while the other in-form batsman Kevin Pietersen is yet to step into the field.

Read More

Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen on brink of an England record

By Meg Anderson

MELBOURNE, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) December 6, 2012: England Test captain Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen are closing in on becoming the English batsman with most number of Test centuries.

Alastair Cook, a left-hand opening batsman, has been producing the goods with the bat for England in the four-match Test series against India as he showed the fight in the first match which England lost by nine wickets before he along with Kevin Pietersen led the visitors to a marvelous 10 wickets victory in the second Test.

Alastair Cook has now 22 Test centuries to his name and there are four other English batsmen who have scored this many centuries in Test cricket including Hammond, Kevin Pietersen, Cowdrey, and Geoffery Boycott.

Both Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen are in tremendous form in the current Test series against India and have shared the batting workload immensely as they led England to 10 wickets victory in the Mumbai Test which squared the series at 1-1.

Former England captain Andrew Strauss, who was left with no option to culminate his Test career after the Kevin Pietersen disgrace during South Africa series, scored 21 centuries for England. Barrington and Graham Gooch hit 20 Test tons while Hutton had 19 and Michael Vaughan scored 18 centuries during their illustrious Test careers for England.

Read More