Cook hits century as England hold sway
Cook on his way to his sixth Test century
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Saturday, 09, Jun 2007 08:02
A century from Alastair Cook proved the highlight for England in the third day of the third Test against the West Indies as hopes of an insurmountable lead faded after a rash of late wickets left the hosts defending an advantage of 454.
The Essex batsman rarely looked ruffled at the crease as he amassed 106 runs before being given out lbw to the bowling of Chris Gayle to make the score 265-4.
His dismissal was a welcome relief for the tourists who had found the going hard in the field for most of the day.
Michael Vaughan was the only scalp from their morning's toil as the skipper again lost concentration when apparently well-positioned to push on for a big score.
Darren Sammy took an instinctive catch off his own bowling to remove the England skipper for 40 after his badly mistimed drive looped invitingly into the Old Trafford air.
Kevin Pietersen survived long enough to score 68 thanks to a series of fielding errors and dropped catches from the West Indies.
But his luck ran out when a Dwayne Bravo bouncer dislodged his helmet and brought it crashing down onto his stumps in a bizarre dismissal.
Once Cook had gone, the England middle order suffered a mini-collapse as Sammy struck in quick succession to claim Ian Bell (2), Matthew Prior (0) and Liam Plunkett (0).
The debutant's spree continued with Steve Harmison (16), Collingwood (42) and Panesar (0) all falling under his spell as he finished the day with figures of 7-66 and England slumped to 313 all out.
Harmison made an early breakthrough, capturing Daren Ganga's wicket, as the West Indies reply crept to 22-1 in reply.