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Cook's record ton powers England

Last week, England trounced India on the sort of raging turner MS Dhoni has routinely demanded this season. This week, on the sort of flat track at Eden Gardens where India's batsmen have thrived in the past few years, England delivered a lesson in old-fashioned Test-match batting. The vast opening stand built on the advantage provided by the immaculate bowling on the first day, and by stumps England were at 216 for 1, just 100 behind, and India were looking as flat as the pitch.

The records continued to tumble for Alastair Cook. He now has the most Test centuries for an England batsman, became the youngest batsman to 7000 Test runs, and has five hundreds in five Tests as captain. He also has the most runs by an England captain on an India tour, breaking the 51-year record set by Ted Dexter, who was honoured by the Cricket Association of Bengal at the start of this Test.

Cook was helped by a surface that offered little to the bowlers, a lightning outfield, and by what could prove one of the costliest mistakes of the series - Cheteshwar Pujara, fielding at first slip instead of his usual short leg, had a low chance from Cook but perhaps hindered by the shin pads he had on, couldn't get down in time to clasp it. Cook was on 17 at that stage, and had survived a probing spell from India's quick bowlers.

After that, though, Cook was rarely under pressure. The effortless punches through cover made an appearance, the more powerful cuts were deployed against wide deliveries, and the spinners were attacked early on. In his 151st Test innings, Cook hit only his ninth six, launching R Ashwin, who was again unable to maintain a consistent line and length, over long-on. The sweep was used effectively against the spinners, quick singles were taken, and after a couple of hours of getting properly set, the scoring picked up in the last half hour before tea.

Despite the volume of runs he has made, Cook hasn't made a name as a quick run-getter in Tests, but he scored almost twice as much as his batting partner Nick Compton in their 165-run stand. The dawdling strike-rate didn't bother Compton, who watchfully played out everything thrown at him by the India attack. It was only after he was well set that he brought out some of his strokes, including a down-the-track swipe over Pragyan Ojha's head for six.

Cook

With Cook seamlessly taking over the captaincy, and Compton already putting on two 100-plus partnerships for the first wicket, Andrew Strauss has not been missed. Compton brought up his maiden Test half-century with a controlled hook off Ishant Sharma, and with England in command, the only energetic Indians were the ones in the stands entertaining themselves with a series of Mexican waves.

India had been tight with the new ball, hardly giving away anything loose. But as the ball lost its shine, the attack also began to fade. The spinners dropped it short or strayed on leg stump far too often, and the England batsmen regularly took a run after pushing the ball straight to a fielder who was supposed to cut off the single.

Cook cruised to his 23rd Test century, with a paddle-sweep, and Compton also showed his confidence with a field-bisecting on-drive for four to move to 57. The next ball, though, he was adjudged lbw though he seemed to have gloved Ojha while attempting a paddle-sweep. There was no respite for India yet, as Cook continued to find the boundary regularly, and Jonathan Trott coolly moved to an unbeaten 21 as he searched for his first big score of the series.

James Anderson had shown his reverse-swing mastery on the first day, and though India also got the old ball to swerve around a bit, the settled England batsmen weren't troubled by it much. Zaheer Khan's strike-rate for the year ballooned towards 100 (career strike-rate 59.2) and Ishant Sharma, playing his first Test since the Adelaide Test in January, was wicketless again, and his strike-rate this year is now an astonishing 208.

The pair didn't make too much of an impact with the bat either, in the morning. Zaheer, for a change, didn't get out attempting a slog, falling lbw while playing down the wrong line while trying to defend Panesar. It was Ishant, generally seen as a sensible tailender, who was dismissed after failing to get the bat down in time following an uncharacteristically high backlift.

It was left to No. 11 Prgayan Ojha to provide MS Dhoni company, as he added a half-century to his prolific run at Eden Gardens. India were bowled out for 316, at least 100 short of what was considered a good total on a flat track. With Cook still hungry for more, and England's more aggressive batsmen yet to get their chance here, India face another tough day in the field on Friday.

Alastair Cook Profile:

Full name Alastair Nathan Cook

Born December 25, 1984, Gloucester

Current age 27 years 348 days

Major teams England, Bedfordshire, England Lions,England Under-19s, Essex, Marylebone Cricket Club

Nickname Cooky, Chef

Playing role Opening batsman

Batting style Left-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm slow

Height 6 ft 2 in

Education Bedford School

Cook Record Ton

Recent Matches:

Bat & Bowl	Team	Opposition	Ground	Match Date	Scorecard
122, 18*	England	v India	Mumbai	23 Nov 2012	Test # 2062
41, 176	England	v India	Ahmedabad	15 Nov 2012	Test # 2058
97, 2*	England XI	v Haryana	Ahmedabad	8 Nov 2012	FC
119	England XI	v India A	Mumbai (BS)	30 Oct 2012	FC
51	England	v South Africa	Nottingham	5 Sep 2012	ODI # 3304
2	England	v South Africa	Lord's	2 Sep 2012	ODI # 3302
20	England	v South Africa	The Oval	31 Aug 2012	ODI # 3300
0	England	v South Africa	Southampton	28 Aug 2012	ODI # 3298
10*	England	v South Africa	Cardiff	24 Aug 2012	ODI # 3296
7, 3	England	v South Africa	Lord's	16 Aug 2012	Test # 2053

Profile:

Those in the know were saying that the tall, dark and handsome Alastair Cook was destined for great things very early on, and on the Ashes tour of 2010-11, he came good on a host of promises, scoring an incredible 766 runs in seven innings to anchor England's first series win in Australia for 24 years. In so doing, he went past 5,000 Test runs, having turned 26 on Christmas Day - the second youngest batsman to reach the landmark after Sachin Tendulkar.

A correct and stylish left-hander strong on the pull, Cook was thrown in at the deep end by Essex the year after he left Bedford School with a fistful of batting records, and has barely looked back since. His early England career was full of successes, although a barren spell in 2010 briefly threatened his place before a century against Pakistan at The Oval - a rather more frenetic affair than Cook's usual knocks - transformed him in time for the Ashes. Up until that point, he had looked increasingly vulnerable outside off stump, with a tendency to play around the front pad proving costly. Cook had already lost his one-day place after a moderate run, not helped by his fielding sometimes being less than scintillating.

He captained England in the Under-19 World Cup early in 2004, scored his maiden first-class hundred later that year, and added a double-century for Essex against the Australian tourists in 2005. The following spring he was called up by the full England side when injuries struck in India. He had been in the Caribbean with the A team when the SOS came but, unfazed, stroked 60 and a magnificent century to complete a memorable debut in Nagpur. He remained consistent, seemingly at ease with the pressure, and was a shoo-in for the 2006-07 Ashes. Before that series even started Glenn McGrath paid him the honour of publicly announcing that he would be targeting Cook: it made for a tough baptism, but although he was hardly prolific (276 runs) he did manage a century in Perth.

Bowlers began to exploit that penchant for hanging on the front foot, but Cook still made his share of runs. By the time of his 25th birthday on Christmas Day 2009 he had scored far more runs (3536 to David Gower's 2548) and centuries (nine to Ian Botham's six) than any other Englishman of a comparable age. He hit three more Test hundreds in 2009 - but none of them were in the Ashes series, in which 95 at Lord's was his only score above 32 as the Aussies probed that front-pad problem.

However, further honours were just around the corner. Andrew Strauss took time off at the start of 2010, and Cook captained in Bangladesh, scoring centuries as both Tests were won. It was the prelude to the great feats in Australia to come and the evolution continued in May 2011 when he was named as Strauss' successor in the one-day captaincy. Little more than a year later, after Strauss' abrupt retirement, the Test role followed, with a demanding tour of India his first assignment.

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