Graeme Swann felt he was watching 'Alastair Cook of old'

Graeme Swann felt he was watching "the Alastair Cook of old" after his record-breaking double-century kept England in control of the fourth Test at the MCG

Graeme Swann

Graeme Swann felt he was watching "the Alastair Cook of old" after his record-breaking double-century kept England in control of the fourth Test at the MCG. Cook ended day three on 244 not out - and England on 491 for nine - with the batsman beating Wally Hammond's previous ground-record 200 for a compatriot and then surpassing Viv Richards' best of 209 from any overseas batsman here.

Cook also moved up to sixth in the global list of top Test runscorers just before stumps, above the great Brian Lara, and his former international team-mate Swann told BT Sport: "He had a wonderful day. I said at the start that England needed to back up yesterday's excellent day they had and Alastair Cook almost single-handedly has done that - 244 not out, batted for over 10 hours, it's an incredible achievement from him.

"He's got England into a brilliant position to win this Test match, more importantly. "The fact that people were doubting whether he wanted it, whether he had the desire, I don't think he enjoyed that at all and he's gone out there and he's proven a lot of people wrong. "Today was all about going on to get that massive 100. He was the man who had to do it for England and he's absolutely delivered. He's got another 140 runs today and put England in a position to potentially win this Test match. "He just looked like the Alastair Cook of old, like he had put all of that bad form to rest."

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