England trail by 135 runs on Day 2 of 4th Ashes Test
Melbourne: Alastair Cooks unbeaten century helped England score 192/2, trailing by 135 runs at stumps on the second day of the fourth Ashes Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Wednesday.
Cook (104) and skipper Joe Root (49) were at the crease when umpires dislodged the bails for the day.
The duo forged an unbeaten 112-run partnership to stabilise the England innings after Mark Stoneman (15) and James Vince (17) failed to do the job.
Cook was dropped on 66 by Australia skipper Steve Smith at first slip off Mitchell Marsh but after that he played sensibly and completed his ton.
Cook and Stoneman started the innings on a positive note but Stoneman was dismissed by Nathon Lyon in the 12th over.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood then trapped Vince leg before wicket to make it 80/2.
After that, Cook and Root came together and helped their team to bounce back strongly.
Earlier, Australia resumed at 244/3 and pacer Stuart Broad picked up 4/51 to send the hosts crashing to 327 all out. He was aided by James Anderson, his new-ball partner who ended with figures of 3/61.
Brief scores: Australia 327/10 against England 192/2 (Alastair Cook 104, Joe Root 49; Josh Hazlewood 1/39)
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UP: Over 100 monkeys die of toxic chemical, buried in pit to hide carnage
Hathras (UP), Nov 22: More than 100 monkeys perished after inhaling a pesticide sprayed in a food godown and were stealthily buried in a pit, police on Friday said.
The bodies were taken out for a postmortem by a team of veterinarians on Friday.
Circle Officer Yogendra Krishna Narayan said police came to know about the deaths on Wednesday.
Police have registered a case against the employees of Food Corporation of India and started an investigation.
According to police, the chemical in question was aluminium phosphide sprayed on wheat sacks to protect it from insects and rodents in an FCI warehouse on November 7.
A troop of monkeys entered the warehouse through a broken window of the godown on the night of November 7 and ended up inhaling the gas.
When the workers opened the warehouse on November 9, they saw several monkeys dead.
They allegedly chose not to inform their seniors about deaths and buried the bodies in a pit.
The CO said the bodies were exhumed when some Vishv Hindu Parishad leaders came to know about the incident.
As per police count, more than 100 monkeys were exhumed from the pit.
Their bodies were in late stage decay, the officer said.
