New series but the story remained pretty much the same for England. Once again Alastair Cook’s opening partner failed to perform, top-order unimpressed before the former captain and his successor Joe Root came to the rescue.
Debutant Mark Stoneman entered England’s historic day-night Test amidst a big hype, having scored more than 1000 runs in the first-class cricket with three centuries but the buzz lasted for only a few minutes, as Kemar Roach sent him back for just eight with a gem of a delivery.
England’s hopes of having a settled top-order before the all important Ashes took yet another blow when Miguel Cummins trapped Tom Westley LBW for eight, leaving the hosts reeling at 39 for two.
But just like the umpteen number of times in the past, Cook and Root not only steadied the ship for England but also batted them to a commanding position after the end of first day’s play at Edgbaston, as the hosts were 348 for three with Cook unbeaten on 153 and Dawid Malan on 28.
Cook and Root stitched together a 248-run partnership before the latter was dismissed by Roach for 136. Speaking at the post-day presser, Cook hailed Root, calling him a genius and the best English batsman he has played with.
“It’s fairly frustrating when you have a 30 run head-start and he beats you to a hundred by 30 [It was actually 22 and 20 respectively],” said Cook of Root’s performance. “It’s incredible how he manages to score like he does.
“If he’s not the best English player I’ve played with, he’s right up there. I think he is. His game is phenomenal and he’s just churning out runs. He’s a genius and an unbelievable player to watch from the other end, how he moves, his rhythm, it’s a lesson to us all,” he added.
The century is Cook’s 31st in the longest format of the game and first since the 130 he made in Rajkot, India, last November, 18 Test innings ago. Since then, the prolific run-scorer played eight Tests but did not manage to reach the three-digit mark.
However, he was not worried about it and was ‘really pleased’ to make contributions with his 50s.
“I don’t know why hundreds are such a big thing,” Cook said. “I was really pleased with a couple of those 50s in a tough series against South Africa where it did quite a lot. As a batter, you are judged on hundreds. It was nice when it was tilted in the batsman’s favour, that I managed to cash in.”
While England is experiencing its first Day-Night Test with the pink ball, Cook is no stranger to it. He has had some previous experience of the pink ball and day-night first-class cricket. He had scored a century for Essex against Middlesex in the day-night round of County Championship matches in June and also played for MCC against Yorkshire last year in the UAE under lights.
Speaking about it, he said:
“I can’t see it not being a success in other parts of the world. Whether we need to do it in England is a different matter. It’s not actually dark until the last hour so it doesn’t feel like day-night cricket until the last hour. In other parts of the world when you get a session and a half of dark cricket, the atmosphere is brilliant.
“We are very lucky in England that the crowds we get everywhere we play are fantastic. You look at other Test cricket around the world and they don’t have that so there is stuff to be done. It is an interesting thing and as players, we understand the responsibility to try these things,” he added.
When asked whether he enjoyed the experience, he joking said:
“I was yawning at about 9 pm because it was about my bedtime.”
“I think if you get 150 and you’re not out at the end of the day, you’ll obviously enjoy it. Everything is just slightly unusual but it’s a mental thing really, nothing more. I thought the crowd were unbelievable in the stands,” added England’s all time leading run-scorer in Tests.