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Cook bakes alone in bid to revisit golden run

England opener put to the test in the Adelaide nets during what was designed to be a clandestine training run

As Adelaide’s temperature rose to a level so uncomfortably high that even mad dogs went whimpering in search of shady refuge, a lone Englishman donned his work gear and toiled beneath the midday sun.

Alastair Cook, the former England Test captain who seven summers ago ran riot against Australia’s bowlers as his team retained the Ashes down under, spent more than an hour in a solo, extracurricular net session at Adelaide Oval today as he looks to rediscover his form of 2010-11.


In what was designed to be a clandestine training run, Cook was tested by England’s batting coach Mark Ramprakash and fielding coach Paul Collingwood with the pink ball that will be used in the historic first day-night Ashes Test starting on Saturday.

As the late spring heat rose towards its early afternoon maximum of 39.4C (almost 103F in the old measure), England’s most-capped Test cricketer waged battle against the outer elements and his inner frustrations.


Dismissed for single-figure scores in both outings of the first Magellan Ashes Test in Brisbane last week – nicking a catch to slip in the first innings, and miscuing a hook shot to fine leg in the second – the 32-year-old worked slavishly on a series of specific drills.

He was fed a glut of short deliveries at which he aimed pull and hook strokes, with a few skied top edges mixed among those that found the middle of his bat.

When Ramprakash fired in the occasional searing Yorkers, Cook kept most at bay but stayed with head bowed when one skewed from the toe of the left-hander’s blade and rattled his stumps.

Steve Smith's analysis of Alastair Cook

And facing Collingwood’s replicated off-spin in preparation for any likely battle with Australia’s lone tweaker Nathan Lyon, Cook betrayed demonstrable annoyance when a sweep shot yielded nothing more substantive than a bottom edge and the pink ball dribbled into the net on the leg side.

The only break that England’s all-time leading runs scorer allowed himself - even when the man who replaced him as skipper, Joe Root, appeared in an adjacent net to undergo some of his own intensive remedial work - was to conduct occasional mid-pitch evaluation chats with his coaches.

New series, same old trap as Aussies outfox Cook

The secret nature of the session was undermined by the reality that Adelaide Oval remains a public space that routinely hosts tour groups and rooftop walkers, and as such the series of blows that Root took on the body from the new pink ball fired from close range was on show to anyone who happened to wander past.

But as he headed across the footbridge that spans the River Torrens, to the air-conditioned sanctuary of England’s hotel at session’s end, Cook could console himself with a few historical precedents even if his lone knock in the nets did not quite bottle the vintage of 2010-11.

His only Test innings at the Adelaide Oval in that golden summer was 148, scored amid an equally stifling spell of hot weather.

And his previous experience against the pink ball in day-night Test cricket – albeit the English-made Dukes version in the familiar surrounds of Edgbaston last August – came on top of a lean run during the summer’s preceding four Tests.

And culminated in him scoring an epic 243 in almost 10 hours of batting against the West Indies, his highest individual Test total in almost two years.

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21