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Alastair Cook’s double-ton powers England to 449/4 against West Indies on Day 2, Edgbaston Test

Alastair Cook continued hammering West Indies bowlers from where he had left on Day One, as England reach 449 for 4 at the end of first session of Day Two of the Edgbaston Test.

Cook scored the 4th Test double-ton © AFP
Cook scored the 4th Test double-ton © AFP

Alastair Cook continued hammering West Indies bowlers from where he had left on Day One, as England reach 449 for 4 at the end of first session of Day Two of the Edgbaston Test. So far in the match, the two wickets of novice Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley sums up West Indies’ success, since both Dawid Malan and Joe Root had made significant contributions to the scoreboard before departing. With over400 runs on the board and 7 wickets in hand, England are way beyond just nominating. As the session ends, Cook remains unbeaten at 213.

Cook and Malan resumed batting and continued as if they were programmed to do it. Batting early in the morning, none of the two looked anywhere close to being nervous. The pressure of runs acted on the bowlers and no extraordinary spell came from any of them. Primarily, Malan kept rotating strikes mostly and Cook dealt in boundaries. Once 100-run partnership between the duo was up, Malan also joined Cook. He brought up his maiden fifty and played a few handsome shots. As bad as things could get for West Indies, besides not-so-impressive bowling, the fielding efforts were poor which added more runs to England’s scorecard. Meanwhile, Cook got to his double-ton, the fourth of his Test career. No prominent edge was produced by the bowlers on Friday, except the one by Roston Chase that finally got Malan out. Pitched outside off-stump, it turned away just the bit needed for Malan to edge it to Jermaine Blackwood at slip. With Malan departing for 65, the session ended. However, problems do not end for West Indies; rather they seem to have increased, given the experienced bunch of English middle-order wait to add their contribution.

Brief scores:

England 348 for 3 (Alastair Cook 213*, Joe Root 136, Dawid Malan 65; Kemar Roach 2 for 86, Miguel Cummins 1 for 86, Roston Chase 1 for 73) against West Indies.

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