Ashes: Alastair Cook’s record breaking double ton puts England in charge

Alastair Cook scored 244 not out as England ended Day 3 of the 4th Ashes Test vs Australia at 491/9, with a healthy lead of 164 runs. (AP)

Updated on: Dec 28, 2017 5:27 PM IST

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Alastair Cook scored 244 not out as England ended Day 3 of the 4th Ashes Test vs Australia at 491/9, with a healthy lead of 164 runs. (AP)

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Already England’s greatest run-scorer, the 33-year-old stonewalled Australia’s bowling for more than 10 and a half hours, eclipsing a stack of historical batting records. (AFP)

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Cook became the first Englishman since Wally Hammond to score a double hundred at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (in 1928) and his 244 not out is now the highest score made by any player against Australia in Melbourne, breaking the 208 Viv Richards made for the West Indies in 1984. (REUTERS)

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Cook also overtook Mahela Jayawardene, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brian Lara to move into outright sixth place among Test cricket’s all-time leading scorers while posting the fifth double ton of his career. (REUTERS)

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He was dropped twice by Australia captain Steve Smith, on 66 then again on 153, but hardly played another false shot during the marathon innings. (REUTERS)

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By the time stumps were drawn, Cook had batted for a total of 634 minutes, faced 409 balls and struck 27 boundaries. (REUTERS)

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With an aggregate of 11,956 runs, he has now become the sixth highest run-getter in Test cricket behind Kumar Sangakkara (12,400), Rahul Dravid (13,288), Jacques Kallis (13,289), Ricky Ponting (13,378) and Sachin Tendulkar (15921). (AP)

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The opener had only scored 83 runs in the first three Ashes Tests. (AFP)

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244 not out is Alastair Cook’s third highest score behind 294 (vs India in August 2011) and 263 (vs Pakistan in October 2015). (AFP)

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As Cook walked off to the pavilion at stumps, the entire Melbourne Cricket Ground rose to acknowledge the marathon innings he played. (AP)