Andrew Strauss’s assertion that Alastair Cook had played one of the great Ashes innings left England’s Gabba hero wide-eyed in disbelief. He knew he had played an epic innings, he did not need much persuasion that it was an extremely good one, but even after a performance which sent England onwards to Adelaide as serious Ashes contenders, he was not sure whether he deserved the ultimate accolade.Cook shook his head vigorously when the question was asked; his captain’s answer was the last thing he expected to hear. “I’m not great on cricketing history, but you’d be hard-pressed to think of a better innings from an England batsman in Australia,” Strauss said of his opening partner’s unbeaten 235. “It must be a long time since a player batted as well as Cooky did. The concentration to see it through for such a long time – it’s one of the really special innings from an England player.”
The last time that Cook’s eyes shone so large must have been when he needed pupils at maximum to see his way through the “dark days” – a tormented time against Bangladesh and Pakistan last summer when the ball kept swinging, his feet refused to move and calls intensified for him to be dropped ahead of the Ashes series. Strauss rejected them long before they were silenced by a do-or-die hundred in the final Test at The Oval.”It’s cricket,” said Cook. “It’s amazing how quickly it turns round. If you keep working at the right things and keep believing you’re a good player, you get your results. The dark days against Pakistan make these runs extra special. The hundred at The Oval was a great confidence [boost] and to back it up here is very pleasing. I got a lot of texts overnight telling me to make it a ‘Daddy hundred’. That’s pretty much a Daddy hundred.”I’ve not changed a huge amount technically. A bit between second and third Tests against Pakistan, but not a huge amount and it just shows what a mental game opening is.”
It could be safely assumed that he meant “mental” as mentally demanding, but there was a time last summer when his definition of mental could have been emotionally crazed. For Cook to dig in for his stubborn first‑innings 67 in five hours was predictable, for him then to bat for a further 10-and-a-half hours to transform a potential England defeat into a day where batting records fell upon him was extraordinary. The greatness was in his concentration, his unwavering method, his spirit of defiance.”The night before I was probably the most nervous I’ve been. The drive into the ground, the hype, the national anthems – it’s a very nerve-racking time. Getting through the first couple of hours gave me a lot of confidence because I hadn’t done it in an Ashes series. I was very disappointed after getting out for 67. I was ultra-determined to make it count if I got in again. Luckily I did.”Cook, by request, was looking back. Strauss was pressed to look forward. “It’s that momentum chat again,” he said. “I don’t know who takes the momentum.” England had dismissed the Australian attack from their presence and now Strauss was dismissing the greatest sports cliche of the past five years; it was turning out to be some day.
“We’ve proved over a while we’re a hard side to beat and it gives us more confidence. At the end of day three it wasn’t looking good, so to come back and draw it, we’ve got a lot of belief we can go on and win the series from here. We’ll have a spring in our step going to Adelaide but we have to transfer that to the pitch. It’s all very well strutting about in the hotel lobby feeling good about yourself. You need to make sure that turns into runs and wickets.”It was very flat on the fifth day and we weren’t a force much with the ball but we’re happy with where we are and we look forward to Adelaide. Hopefully we can win the toss in Adelaide and we’ll see how things progress from there.”Australia have called up two more fast bowlers, Ryan Harris and Doug Bollinger, for Adelaide as their captain, Ricky Ponting, warned nobody was certain of selection after The Gabba. The ground popularly known as The Gabbatoir could become a slaughterhouse for Australia’s first Test attack after England racked up 517 for one on the final day of the draw, their second highest Test score in Australia.
“We have to work out which is the best attack to take 20 wickets in Adelaide,” Ponting said. “We will decide that irrespective of what the bowlers have done up here workwise. They will be given a couple of days to recover. I don’t think anyone is certain for selection.”Most criticism of Australia’s bowlers has centred upon their tattooed man, Mitchell Johnson, whose mental strength has been brought into question, but his attitude was defended by Ponting. “His state of mind seemed really good. Every time I asked him how he was going he seemed really positive. I have seen him bowl better, though. But I am not singling anyone out because we have a lot of work to do as a bowling group.”Australia had won 18 and drawn four of their previous 22 Tests at The Gabba, which will leave England satisfied with a draw after trailing by 221 on first innings.
“I have never played on a Gabba wicket like that in my whole career,” Ponting said. “How slow it was for the first couple of days was really foreign to me. The result indicates that there was something different about it this week.”The Adelaide Oval, reputedly the flattest track in Australia, will bring no immediate comfort to put-upon bowlers on either side, but Harris, the Queensland fast bowler who has played only two Tests, is the top side of 30 and may never entirely recover from knee surgery last year, is in the sort of form to be presented by Ponting as a potential saviour.”He has had some niggly knee problems but he has got through two Shield games and everyone believes the injury he has had will be fine for Adelaide. He is a great competitor – he runs in all day for you. He is the sort of guy who is going to bowl the right length for Adelaide conditions. He runs in and bangs the ball into the wicket if you want to have success and if there is any reverse swing down there he is good at that as well.
“There are lots of things that are good to like about Ryan. The fact that he has had good success in international cricket means he is one of those guys who need to be playing.”Ponting’s unhappiness with the outcome at Brisbane was tempered by Australia’s untroubled batting in the closing hours of the match, which confirmed his belief that the surface remained extremely benign for a final‑day pitch.”We got into a good position to win the game but we weren’t good enough to win it. We didn’t bowl as well as we could as a group by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a difficult wicket to bowl on for the last couple of days. 1-500 is a pretty demeaning scorecard isn’t it. Our boys are pretty tired at the moment. If we get a flat wicket again in Adelaide we have to make sure we are a whole lot better – Guardian
