In Melbourne on Thursday, Alastair Cook registered his fifth double century after consecutive poor performances in the ongoing Ashes 2017. Before the double-century, he scored just 83 runs in the series so far before the start of the 4th Ashes Test against Australia in Melbourne.

But Cook proved his courage and silenced his critics as he went on to score his 5th Test double century at MCG in just 360 deliveries and his innings comprised of 10 boundaries. During the course of his innings, he also surpassed Shivnarine Chanderpaul to reach the 7th position in the list of cricketers with most runs in Test cricket. In 151 Tests, the southpaw has scored 11910* runs and is the highest run scorer from his country.

It is also the second time Cook has scored a double century in Australia. His first double hundred came back in 2010 at Gabba in Brisbane in a match that ended in a draw. The only visiting batsman who has scored more double centuries in the country was Wally Hammond (3), while Brian Lara has also scored 2.

Cook’s score of 206* is the highest score by an England batsman at MCG as he excelled Wally Hammond’s 200. With his struggles, England managed to take a good lead over Australia on the third day of the 4th Test at MCG, even though wickets kept tumbling on the other end.