11, 23, 10, 17, 2, 7, 37, 16, 7 and 14. These were Alastair Cook's scores in the last 10 innings of his international Test career, starting four of which came in a home series against West Indies, a side which is placed at 8th position in ICC Test rankings. For a batsman of Cook's calibre, his form had been extremely woeful. It was also the longest span in his 12 years of his career for which he had failed to register a single Test fifty. With his performance in the ongoing Ashes series showing no signs of improvement, cricketing pundits all over the world started questioning whether Cook's time is up. “It looks to me like Cook is not very interested. Just the way that he’s got out, the manner of his dismissals and also the way he’s walked off the field once he’s got out. That’s the sign of a bloke who goes, ‘You know what? Maybe my time is up'," former England allrounder Kevin Pietersen said in an interview after the second Test in Adelaide. Playing his 150th Test at WACA, the 33-year old, who has played most number of matches in the longest format for England, again slumped to low figures as the visitors lost the series with another defeat in Perth. With the 4th Test at Melbourne being a dead rubber, and England fighting just for prestige, critics questioned Cook's place in the team. But the left-handed batsman proved his mettle as he smashed his 33rd Test hundred on the second day and took England to a strong position at stumps. In his innings comprising of 15 boundaries, Cook smashed bowlers all around the ground. He even surpassed former Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene and became the eighth highest run scorer in the longest format with 11,812 runs in the format at MCG. Cook's innings received massive praise from former England and Australian cricketers: Yes Cooky!!!! Form is temporary, Class is permanent!! Mentally one of the toughest players to ever play the game and England’s greatest ever run scorer, well played Alastair Cook!! 🙌👏👌#Ashes #Legend — James Taylor (@jamestaylor20) December 27, 2017 Alastair Cook is a legend.end of! Well played on the 💯 Cooky and make it a ‘daddy’ tomorrow #ashes #englandsgreatestrunscorer — Matt Prior (@MattPrior13) December 27, 2017 Great day for England at the MCG today, well done to the senior players who put in & got their rewards. Cook was outstanding with the bat - congrats on the 100 !!! What will tmrw bring ? A England 1st innings of 500 & a lead ? — Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) December 27, 2017 The power of the mind . That’s what playing at the highest level is all about . Ali Cook proved that again today . The Mindset of staring at the ball to score rather than just survive worked a treat today . #Ashes — Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) 27 December 2017 His innings provided the much-needed boost which England required to finally end a day on a high note in the series. The visitors managed to reach a total of 192/2 at stumps, trailing Australia's 1st innings total by 135 runs. His return to form scripted the resurrection of the Three Lions, as skipper Joe Root also found some form and played a good 49 runs innings. It was Cook's 5th Test hundred against Aussies. England have won 2 Tests and lost 2 and drawn 1 in which Cook has scored a century against Australia. It still remains to be seen what will be the result of the match. But with Cook regaining form and both him and Root still not out on the crease at stumps on the second day, the visitors have a solid platform to take the score forward and take a solid lead on the third day.
