Alastair Cook ends England run drought in style as tourists aim to avoid shame of Ashes whitewash

At 3-0 down after three tests, the Ashes urn is already lost to Australia but Cook and Stuart Broad both showed their careers are not over just yet after critics had questioned their place in the England team.

In scorching heat in the fourth Melbourne test, England bowled out the Australians for 327, with 113-test paceman Broad capturing four wickets for 51 runs in his best bowling performance in more than a year.

Cook then ended a 10-innings stretch without a half-century, the longest dry spell of his 151-test career, to claim his 32nd test ton in the day’s final over.

At the close, England were 192 for two and trailing by 135 runs with Cook, playing in an English-record 34th consecutive Ashes test, unbeaten on 104 and skipper Joe Root on 49 in an unbroken 112-run partnership.

“He’s always been a very tough character, mentally strong guy and he was always going to come good at some stage,” Broad said of Cook.