Late To The Party But Old Boys Still A Threat

The Ashes may have gone, but for the first time in the series England’s senior players turned up in force during the early part of a Test match to put Australia under pressure.

- Derek Pringle

Alastair Cook was the most notable contributor among England’s grandees, scoring his 32nd Test hundred, a daddy too after it had stretched to 244 by the close on day three.

James Anderson and Stuart Broad also ‘came to the party’, as Duncan Fletcher would say, sharing seven wickets between them. Indeed, Broad’s four for 51 was his best return of 2017.

As it is the festive season, let us be charitable, at least to start with. After three Tests in which Cook had made 83 runs at 13.8, there were a good number of people calling for him to be replaced.

Not for them the old cliche that ‘form is temporary, class permanent’. Just the questionable theory that most sporting malaises are best stopped by the shock of the new. Fortunately, for England and Cook, the coach and captain resisted the cry of the mob and picked him for his 151st Test.

Cook knows he has been letting his team and country down and has been putting in extra hours with personal coach Gary Palmer. Like most batsmen, his struggles can be linked to his footwork, the foundation from which most ills and indeed, excellence, in batting, stem.

A tall man, Cook’s footwork is more vital than most for securing his balance. If he does not provide a solid base from which to play his shots, his head falls over. This brings lbw into play along with his other principle vulnerability – that of caught behind, mostly from indeterminate drives or pushes off the front foot.