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Cook century leaves him in all-time top 10 for Test run-scorers and Test tons

Cook is now six centuries behind all-time leader Kumar Sangakkara

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England batsman Alastair Cook returned to form with a century on the second day of the fourth Ashes Test against Australia in Melbourne.

Cricketers with the most Test centuries
Cricketers with the most Test centuries (PA Graphics)

The 33-year-old showed his class to reach the close on 104 not out, completing his 32nd Test hundred in the final over.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at where Cook now stands in the all-time Test run-scoring and century-making lists.

Run-scoring

Cook has now scored 11,816 runs in 151 Tests during his England career, moving up to eighth in the highest run-scorers.

There were doubts about whether he would continue after this series, having made 83 runs in six innings before Wednesday’s ton, but he is looking up now.

The left-hander leapfrogged Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene with his knock at the MCG and has two West Indians in his sights.

Sachin Tendulkar is top of the run-scoring charts with 15,921 while Brian Lara is 137 runs ahead of Cook
Sachin Tendulkar is top of the run-scoring charts with 15,921 while Brian Lara is 137 runs ahead of Cook (Adam Davy/PA)

Shivnarine Chanderpaul is 51 runs ahead of Cook, who is also only 137 behind Brian Lara, while Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara is fifth in the standings on 12,400.

Sachin Tendulkar, with a record 15,921 runs, Ricky Ponting (13,378), Jacques Kallis (13,289) and Rahul Dravid (13,288) make up the top four.

Century-making

Cook’s century in Melbourne ensured he completed the feat of scoring three figures at all five Ashes venues in Australia.

Cook hit 116 in Perth in 2006, 235 and 148 in Brisbane and Adelaide respectively in 2010, and 189 in Sydney a year later.

His 32nd hundred put him in the top 10 century-makers in Test history, moving level with Australian Steve Waugh.

Kumar Sangakkara leads the way with 38 Test centuries, six more than Cook
Kumar Sangakkara leads the way with 38 Test centuries, six more than Cook (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)

Cook needs three more hundreds to surpass Jayawardene, Lara, Sunil Gavaskar and Younis Khan and move into sixth.

But he still has some way to go to reach Dravid and Sangakkara, with 36 and 38 centuries respectively, while Ponting has 41, Kallis 45 and Tendulkar a record 51.

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