Cook and Bell put England in charge in Sydney

SYDNEY,  (Reuters) – A dominant Alastair Cook scored   189 and Ian Bell his first century against Australia as   England took a commanding first innings lead of 208 at the   close of play on the third day of the fifth Ashes test today.
England, who just need to draw the match to secure a first   series win in Australia for 24 years having already retained   the Ashes, were on 488-7 with Matt Prior (54) and Tim Bresnan   (0) at the crease when bad light stopped play.

Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook

Cook put on another dazzling display of concentration and   not a few fine shots and was given a rousing standing ovation   by the 40,000 crowd after taking his series tally to 766 runs.
“It’s been an amazing five-six weeks for us as a side and   for me personally,” Cook told reporters.
“It’s great to be on the crest of a wave and enjoying it.   We had a really good plan coming into this series, a good   build up and we’ve played some good cricket but we want to   come home winning our series.
“That was our aim coming into this game and that’s what   we’ll try to do with another two days left.”
Australia did not lack effort in the field but their   bowlers asked too few questions of the batsmen on a deadening   track and their hopes of squaring the series were fading away   in the early evening gloom.
“What Cook showed was a lot of discipline,” Australia   stand-in captain Michael Clarke said. “He let a lot of balls   go and played to his strengths. We didn’t have the discipline   to hold our lines and he exploited that.”
Those hopes were still high at the start of the day when   the tourists resumed on 167-3 and Peter Siddle quickly picked   up the wicket of nightwatchman Jimmy Anderson for seven.
At the other end, though, was the outstanding batsman of   the series and Cook, who had started on 61, was soon   accelerating towards his third century of the series.
By the time he was caught low in the gully by Mike Hussey   off Shane Watson just after tea, England had overhauled   Australia’s first innings tally of 280 and were 100 runs ahead   with four wickets in hand.
Most of the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground were clad   in pink in honour of the breast cancer foundation started by   test bowling great Glenn McGrath and his late wife Jane but   the English batsmen were in no mood for charity.

MIXED RECEPTION
Bell picked up where Cook had let off and he finally   scored his first test century in 31 innings against the   Australians but there were boos mixed with cheers as he doffed   his helmet.
The 29-year-old had been given out caught behind on 67   when the ball went between bat and pad but he stood his ground   and was reprieved when the television review England demanded   proved inconclusive.
The cat calls came again when Bell departed for 115   shortly before the end of the day after being caught by Clarke   off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson.
“(It’s) the best knock that I’ve played in an England   shirt against Australia, so a fantastic moment to eventually   get a hundred against Australia, it’s great,” Bell said.
Cook had few scares in his 488-minute innings and had   stood his ground when he was on 99 and Australia’s Phillip   Hughes claimed a catch at short leg.
“It was very close and to be fair to Phil Hughes he said   straight away, ‘I wasn’t sure’,” Cook said.
“I obviously was going to hang around. On 99 you’re not   going to walk off very quickly, you’re going to be dragged   off.”
The umpires checked the TV pictures and concluded that the   ball had not carried to Hughes and Cook went on to claim his   16th test century with a single to midwicket shortly afterwards.
Debutant spinner Michael Beer, who had lost two potential   wickets to TV reviews, finally got his maiden test wicket when   Paul Collingwood danced down the pitch but sent the ball   looping into the hands of Ben Hilfenhaus at mid-on for 13.
Despite England’s strong position, Clarke said he thought   Australia could still win.
“If we can go out strong in the morning and get these last   few wickets, then bat our backsides off and fight hard and get   a lead of 180-200 on the final day at the SCG, I’m confident   we can still win this game,” Clarke said.