MEN OF THE DAY
It is not long since Alastair Cook was under huge pressure but today he stands alone above Gooch, Stewart, Gower and Boycott (and Pietersen) in England’s batting pantheon. Good job he got it or they’d have had to smuggle that big banner out of the stand while hoping no one noticed. Meanwhile Adam Lyth became the first Yorkshire opener to hit a Headingley hundred since Geoff Boycott in 1977.
RECORD WATCH
The crowd watching the summer’s most northerly Test have been spoiled by record feats (and an early contender for the summer’s longest beer snake). The last time England’s top Test run-scorer and wicket-taker were in the same team was February 1914 when Jack Hobbs and Sydney Barnes played against South Africa in Durban.
MIXED NEWS OF THE DAY
Stuart Broad recorded his 13th five‑wicket haul in Test cricket … but at 6.34 runs per over it was the most expensive in Test history.
OPENERS OF THE DAY
England’s opening stand was their best at Headingley and first over 100 since Cook and Andrew Strauss put on 186 against India at Edgbaston in 2011. Strauss – whatever happened to him?
