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England's captain Andrew Strauss leaves the field after being dismissed during the first Ashes test...
Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook became England's most prolific opening test partnership during the first Ashes test on Sunday, but their stand of 188 could end up being much more significant than a mere statistical milestone.After a hammering from the hosts on Friday, England looked to be heading for another in a long line of defeats on Australian soil when the pair walked out to bat under leaden skies on the fourth morning at the Gabba.
By the close of play, the tourists had given up just one wicket and turned a 202-run deficit into an 88-run lead with every chance of a draw, or perhaps even better, on Monday.
With one more day of a test match that has ebbed and flowed throughout still remaining, Strauss was reluctant to pronounce on how significant their opening stand might end up being.
"That's yet to be fully revealed," the England captain said. "Where it ranks and how important it is remains to be seen, we still have to play well tomorrow.
"It would be wrong for us to look too far ahead, the game's still up for grabs," he added. "If we don't bat well tomorrow, Australia get a chance to get a foot in the door and we don't want that to happen."
Strauss was, however, prepared to concede that England had needed to respond in kind to Australia's dominance of the third day of the contest.
"When you do have the conditions in your favour, it's important that you make the opposition pay and you don't let them back into the game," he said.
"After the day that we had yesterday, it was important that we had our turn on a wicket that was reasonably flat and make them toil for a while."
And toil the Australians did, with Strauss (110), Cook (132 not out) and then Jonathan Trott (54 not out) steadily piling up the runs until stumps were called some 45 minutes early for bad light.
Strauss and Cook were also able to overhaul Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe as England's most prolific opening partnership, albeit in more than double the number of test innings.
Cook was delighted with his innings as has struggled in the past against the Australians with an average of 26.21 in 10 tests at the start of the tour.
"It was very satisfying," said Cook, who hit a 67 in the first innings. "I said at the start of the tour I had a point to prove. In my last two series against Australia I hadn't done that well.
"Over the last 12 months I've had a bit of a tinker with my technique and tried to improve it. The results today, I'm very happy with."
Strauss said it was "great" to have Andy Flower back at the ground on Sunday after the England coach missed the two previous days as a result of minor surgery to remove a melanoma from his face.
"The dressing room was a little more light-hearted because he wasn't there," Strauss joked.
"But you always things to be as normal as possible in big test matches and when he was away for a couple of days it was a bit odd."
(Editing by Patrick Johnston. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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