Cricket: Cook Puts Aussies to Sword

Weekends will not come much better than this for Alastair Cook. On Friday night he received his award as Young Player of the Year from the Cricket Writers' Club. A few hours later, he hit a brilliant double century against Australia, who, five days before the fifth Test, looked ragged and tired. It might be the right time for Cook - and maybe the rest of the country - to buy a lottery ticket.

Former England captain Keith Fletcher, an Essex scout and consultant, has described Cook as 'just about the best young batsman I've seen' - which, even by the Gnome's hyperbolic standards, is saying something. But you can see what the fuss is about.

Cook - predictably known as Chef - is 20, left-handed and bats with a freedom gifted to the few. He is strong off his legs, murderous on anything short outside off stump and is hungry for runs, eventually being caught by Jason Gillespie off Michael Kasprowicz for 214. This was the fifth time he had passed a hundred this season and he will surely play for England.

Cook and Will Jefferson tore the attack to pieces in a breathtaking start. The run-rate got up to seven an over at one point - as good as the 1948 Australians when they scored 721 in a day in this fixture - as Gillespie, Kasprowicz and Brett Lee struggled to get anything out of the flat, true surface on a day of soaring temperatures.

Jefferson, all 6ft 10½in of him, was particularly hard to bowl to, leaning forward like a crane in defence, or standing tall to dispatch the wayward and the short square on either side of the wicket. Kasprowicz put one straight through him, though, when he was 64. He might have tired of reaching down to get bat on ball.

Cook, joined by Ravi Bopara, carried on untroubled and, by the time he cruised past a hundred, he had hit 16 fours and scored at tremendous lick. He got his century from 107 balls, four fewer than Bopara took for his fifty. Bopara, another 20-year-old Englishman, looks a most promising player, too, and he reached his century shortly after tea.

By mid-afternoon, Brad Hodge was bowling his part-time off-spin. That summed it up for Australia.

If there is a feeling that Australia are more than just rattled and are heading towards dispirited, it was confirmed in their fielding. It was a rare sight to see the ball dribble through the hands of Brad Haddin (twice), Stuart MacGill and Lee for boundaries. This is a team badly in need of a lift.

The one player who can restore their confidence might not play again on tour, though. Glenn McGrath, who has been the difference between the teams when fit and firing, is no certainty for The Oval. His strained elbow is responding to treatment, but there might not be sufficient time for total rehabilitation.

There are concerns also about Shaun Tait, whose right shoulder is giving him trouble, and Shane Warne has a few niggles. Kasprowicz has tennis elbow, but bowled long spells here and will be kept if McGrath does not make it. Gillespie bowled better than he has done for a while, but is still short of his best.

All in all, not a pretty picture.