England lead 1st inning against Australia

Australia,January,5-2010:Two batsmen inspired England to lead last game of Ashes tour,Alastair cook 189 and Ian Bell 115 lead the 1st inning.Summer struggle inspired Cook
Alastair Cook on Wednesday said his lean summer spurred him on to his prolific Ashes series.
The 26-year-old scored 189 on Wednesday, taking him to 766 for the series, as England moved into a commanding position in a Test match they need only to draw for a first Ashes victory in Australia since 1987.
England made 488 for seven, boosted by Cook’s ton and 115 from Ian Bell – his first Ashes century – to end day three at the Sydney Cricket Groiund.
Asked what has motivated him this winter, Cook, who has batted for 2,171 minutes in the series, told Sky Sports 1: “When you don’t score runs.
“I spent a lot of last summer not scoring runs. It’s pretty lonely.
“When you don’t get any for a while, then you find form, you’ve got to make the most of it.”
On his concentration and stamina, Cook added: “You can switch off a little bit at the non-striker’s end.
“When you’re batting well you get into a rhythm, you don’t get flustered. Suddenly an hour goes, it’s drinks and you don’t know where it’s gone.
“(I do) a lot of hard work in the gym. I’m lucky I don’t sweat, I don’t get too hot, and I’m pretty fit.
“(With) my technique, I’ve gone back to what I started with. We’ve got a great set-up here.
“We’ve got great confidence in how we’ve been playing over a period of time.”
Bell also paid tribute to England’s coaching set-up for the contribution it has made to his recent improvement.
“We have a great ethic in how we train, how we net, and that’s what we take onto the field,” he said.
“That’s something that really helped my game.
“Hopefully I can carry that on in my career.”
Bell admitted his first Ashes ton was a monkey off his back.
“It means everything,” he said. “I’ve had a pretty tough time against Australia.
“Earlier in my career I was pretty much outdone by Australia.
“Hopefully I can kick on.”
Bell survived a moment of controversy when he called for DRS after Aleem Dar gave him caught behind off Shane Watson.
In the absence of compelling ‘Hotspot’ evidence to support the decision, it was overturned – only for ‘Snicko’, considered a less robust and certainly much slower scientific simulation, to indicate several minutes later that there had been an inside-edge after all.
Asked if he touched the ball, Bell said: “I don’t know. That’s why I used the review.
“Matt Prior was pretty confident I didn’t hit it. That’s why the system’s there.
“I wasn’t 100% sure that I had or hadn’t.
“There possibly was a noise but I didn’t feel anything on the bat.”
Cook also survived a close decision, when Phil Hughes initially appeared to get his hands underneath one at short-leg off Michael Beer.
Cook stood his ground and was vindicated when the umpires consulted video replays – which demonstrated the ball had bounced.
“(Hughes) said he wasn’t sure, and Brad Haddin as well, so they checked,” said Cook, who was keen to play down the incident.
“When the technology’s there, it makes sense.”
As for the match situation, Bell insists England will look to push on and win the match, rather than be content with the draw they need to claim a series victory.
“Definitely,” he said. “Tomorrow morning we want to score as many runs as possible.
“Hopefully our bowlers will get enough opportunity to get 10 wickets”.

source:espnstar.com

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