Vintage Cook still leads the way

Despite England handing debuts to Tom Westley and Dawid Malan at The Oval, it was an old batting master in Alastair Cook who ensured they are still in the hunt at the end of the opening day of this third Test against South Africa.

Cook started the morning by hitting the fourth ball he faced from Morne Morkel for four and leapfrogging Australian great Allan Border into ninth position on the list of all-time Test runscorers.

That took Cook to 11,178 career runs. By the time play was prematurely ended by rain shortly after 6pm in London, the opener had added 78 more to his score, ending the day unbeaten on 82 as England closed on 171 for four.

Match Report: Cook, Philander fire on tense first day

It was a crucial knock in the context of this match and series, which is level at 1-1 following South Africa’s landslide 340-run win in Nottingham last week.

Cook requires 18 more runs on the second day here to post his 31st Test hundred, a feat that would see him overtake another Australian in Matthew Hayden on the all-time list of Test centuries.

He may have given up the captaincy earlier this year but with England’s batting line-up in ever greater flux, Cook’s influence appears to be growing just four months out from the next Ashes series.

England know they will need the 32-year-old in form if they are to stand any chance of beating Australia. After all, their only away Ashes series win in 30 years came largely thanks to Cook’s 766 runs during England’s 2010-11 tour.

The identity of the Essex batsman’s opening partner for the Ashes remains as unclear as ever following the first day of this Test.

Keaton Jennings, the 11th man to join Cook at the top of the order since the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012, appears to be living on borrowed time after his nine-ball duck at The Oval saw his series average drop to a pitiful 8.8.

The smart money will be on Mark Stoneman, who averages close to 60 for Surrey in first-class cricket this northern summer, coming in for the fourth Test of the series at Old Trafford next week and remaining in the side until at least the end of the Ashes.

As for the two batting debutants in this match, there were mixed starts for Westley and Malan.

Westley’s innings of 25 can be filed under the category of promising, the Essex No3 batsman coping well against the new ball early on to reach lunch unscathed alongside his county teammate in Cook.

But he will be disappointed not to have kicked on after edging a Chris Morris outswinger to slip shortly after the interval.

Malan’s first Test innings was rather more tortured, the man who made 78 on his T20 debut for England against South Africa last month undone by a 142kph yorker from Kagiso Rabada that re-arranged his stumps. The Middlesex batsman had made one in 17 balls. It was hardly the start he was looking for.

England also had a third debutant in their XI for this Test in Toby Roland-Jones, the Middlesex seamer in for the injured Mark Wood. The value of his selection – and the likelihood of him making the Ashes tour – will become clear in the coming days.

Roland-Jones will hope England have a decent total under their belts before he comes on to bowl his first spell in Test cricket.

Whether that is the case will rest largely on Cook, Ben Stokes, whose partnership with his former captain was worth 51 by stumps, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali, who has dropped down to the No.8 position he occupied during the 2015 Ashes series.

Michael Vaughan, who accused England of showing "disrespect" for Test cricket when their brainless batting approach saw them dismissed for 205 and 133 in Nottingham, is in no doubt whose hands this Test rests in.

England’s 2005 Ashes-winning captain said: "First and foremost the England team got criticised for going out with a gung-ho approach at Trent Bridge. Here the ball was moving around but I thought they were really impressive. 

"Of course it helped when you have Alastair Cook playing the attritional way. He was almost sending out a message saying ‘this is how you play’. The way England applied themselves has given them half a chance of posting a decent score."

Westley also paid tribute to his team-mate, saying: "Cooky batted superbly. In tough conditions, on and off for rain and seaming around a little bit, for him to still be in at the close is a fantastic achievement. 

"Hopefully he can kick on tomorrow and get three figures. As I say, the wicket is doing a bit, so if we can get as many runs as possible tomorrow, we’ll be in a good position."