Very average spells

Benedict Bermange compares Alastair Cook's form with the worst stretches of other England openers.

Cook's quest for Ashes berth needs to be backed with big runs

All eyes will be on Alastair Cook when the third day of the third Test between England and Pakistan gets underway. While he had some success in South Africa over the winter and scored centuries in both Tests captaining in Bangladesh, Cook has only averaged 19.29 in his last ten home Tests dating back to the start of last year's Ashes series. His only score above fifty was his 90 in the first innings against Australia at Lord's. Here is how that average compares to the worst 10-match home stretches of some other recent England openers. Gooch's stretch included his three-year ban for playing in South Africa.

Name	Start	End	M	Inns	NO	Runs	Hs	Avge	100	50
GA Gooch	Jul 1980	Jun 1985	10	20	0	376	83	18.80	0	2
AN Cook	Jul 2009	Aug 2010	10	18	1	328	90	19.29	0	1
MA Atherton	Aug 1990	Jun 1993	10	18	0	361	86	20.05	0	3
AJ Stewart	Jul 1992	Jun 1994	10	18	0	450	78	25.00	0	3
G Boycott	Jul 1969	Jun 1973	10	18	1	519	121	30.52	2	1
ME Trescothick	Aug 2005	Aug 2006	10	18	0	595	106	33.05	1	3
AJ Strauss	Jun 2004	Aug 2005	10	18	0	565	137	33.23	1	3

Leaders of the pack

At Napier in 2008 Andrew Strauss hit 177 in his second innings, having averaged 27.16 without a century in his previous 30 innings dating back to August 2006. Before his century against New Zealand at Lord's later that year, Michael Vaughan had averaged 27.93 without a century in his previous 14 innings dating back to August 2007. Strauss is now level on Test runs with a former England captain - Nasser Hussain. Here's how their overall record compares:

Name	Years	M	Inns	NO	Runs	Hs	Avge	100	50	4s	6s
N Hussain	1990-2004	96	171	16	5764	207	37.18	14	33	734	24
AJ Strauss	2004-2010	76	139	6	5764	177	43.33	18	21	714	9

Safe hands

This is the 13th time that James Anderson has been used as a night-watchman. On the previous 12 occasions, he has averaged 15.90 batting for an average of 58 minutes. If he reaches 15 today he will get to 500 Test runs. Currently playing his 70th innings, only one of the previous 164 England men has taken more innings to reach that figure - Bob Willis - who took 80. If Kamran Akmal makes two dismissals in England's second innings he would be the 12th wicket-keeper to make 200 in Test cricket, but just the second from Asia. The current Asian leaders are:

Name	Teams	Years	M	Cts	Sts	Dis
Wasim Bari	Pak	1967-1984	81	201	27	228
Kamran Akmal	Pak	2002-2010	52*	176	22	198
Syed Kirmani	Ind	1976-1986	88	160	38	198

Time to change

On both the first two days the players have walked off at 6:30 with some of the day's overs unbowled.

Decade	Overs	Runs	Wickets
1950s	111	255	9
1960s	108	270	8
1970s	96	258	8
1980s	86	248	8
1990s	86	246	8
2000-10s	84	271	8