England captain Alastair Cook led his side to 78-1 at lunch on the first day of the third Test at Southampton yesterday, after India missed an excellent chance to dismiss the opener.
Left-hander Cook, dropped on 15, moved on to 48 not out at the interval, with Gary Ballance unbeaten on 4 after Australia-born opener Sam Robson fell for 26.
Prior to this match, Cook had scored 638 runs in 27 Test innings, at an average of 23.6, with no centuries since one against New Zealand at Leeds in May last year.
Photo: AFP
Cook, despite his run drought and with England 1-0 down in the five-match series after their 95-run defeat in the second Test at Lord’s, opted to bat first after winning the toss on a green-tinged pitch.
He edged the first ball of the match, from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, just short of the slips and scored his first boundary with an unconvincing steer through a vacant third man area.
Robson was more sure of himself in cover-driving Kumar for four.
Cook had a huge let off when, on 15 and with England on 25 in the 12th over, he opened the face pushing out against Test debutant Pankaj Singh, bowling from around the wicket, and got a thick outside edge. However, Ravindra Jadeja dropped a seemingly routine catch at third slip.
It was tough on the 1.98m Singh, brought in after Ishant Sharma, who took a Test-best 7-74 at Lord’s, was ruled out with ankle problems.
A first-wicket partnership worth 55 ended when Robson fell in familiar fashion. Mohammed Shami squared him up with a delivery that cut away off the seam and this time Jadeja made no mistake with the chance at third slip.
Shami also beat Cook outside off stump and next ball had the 29-year-old edging a drive through a vacant gully for four.
Two well-struck cuts for fours off spinners Rohit Sharma and Jadeja took Cook to within sight of a half century.
At press time, England had moved on to 178-1 with Cook on 77 and Ballance on 69.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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