England on top as Cook carries on golden form
AUS 245 ENG 198/2 tea Day 2
Alastair Cook carried on his impressive run in the Ashes series, as he neared his second consecutive hundred in the series, to put the tourists in control of the second Test match at Adelaide.
Day two of the Test match started on a positive note for the Aussies, as English captain Andrew Strauss was sent packing by left arm fast bowler Doug Bollinger. The left-hander was stunned when he allowed a straighter one from Bollinger to go through, and
the ball rattled the stumps.
Strauss scored only one run and left his team in a spot of bother at three for one. The tourists were then rescued by another outstanding partnership between the heroes of the first Test; Cook and Jonathan Trott.
The two had added a record 349 for the second wicket on the last two days of the Gabba Test, and continued from where they had left in Brisbane.
They rode on their confidence from the last game and looked in control after negotiating the opening spells by the Australian pace duo of Ryan Harris and Doug Bollinger.
They were both in an attacking frame of mind, taking their team to lunch at 90 for one off 27 overs. Trott and Cook made full use of some loose bowling on offer throughout the session.
Cook reached his half century off 102 balls, striking seven fours in the process. While Trott, who was the more adventurous of the pair, struck eight fours in his half century which came off 84 balls.
After the lunch break the two carried on their good work and looked set to go past the three figure mark, yet the Aussies were finally rewarded when Trott played a lazy shot that went in the air towards the mid-wicket region.
A diving Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 held on, as pacer Peter Siddle rejoiced. Trott scored 78 runs off 144 balls, hitting 11 fours in his innings.
He was replaced by the flamboyant Kevin Pietersen. The right-hander has good memories of the Adelaide Oval, where he scored a hundred in the first innings the last time he played a Test here.
He has already played some attacking shots in his brief stay at the wicket. He is not out on 14 off 24 balls, while Cook is batting on a calm and assured 90 off 159 balls, as the players took tea.
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