Ashes T2 Day 2 Stumps: Alastair Cook, Trott and KP Put Australia Behind on Runs

Some would think this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Alastair Cook is on fire and Australia are simmering in the heat. This is a true story from the second day of the second Test of the Ashes 2010 at the Adelaide Oval.

kevin pietersen alastair cook

Australia were hoping their bowlers would provide the answers their batsmen could not. After all, they had Ryan Harris and Doug Bollinger to count on after leaving out Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus. However, their hopes were bitterly tarnished as Alastair Cook continued to make a nuisance of himself and made Australia pay.

Andrew Strauss was the only piece of success for Australia in the morning after Australia failed to convert a couple of opportunities to their advantage. Alastair Cook took command of the situation and with Jonathan Trott for steady partnership, began to eat away as Australia's resistance and their first innings total of 245.

How telling the second wicket partnership can be assessed by the fact that Trott scored seventy-eight even as Cook was eying his second Test century on the trot. That partnership cost Australia 173 runs that tilted England from catching up to Australia's score to looking good to overhauling it by a huge margin.

Eventually Trott did fall. However, the pressure refused to ease up on Australia as Kevin Pietersen decided it was his time to get under the skin of England's traditional rivals. An unyielding third wicket partnership of 141 at stumps had ensured Australia were looking at a situation not unlike England were in after three days in Brisbane. Pietersen himself was batting on an unbeaten eighty-five even as Cook was looking good for a second double Test century, batting on 136.