Alastair Cook finally comes good for England as rain forces a draw

Andrew Strauss has two centuries to his name in Australia already, but he has no inclination whatsoever to sit back, survey the scene and give Eoin Morgan a chance to settle in against Australia A in Hobart next week. Did he feel ready for a game off perhaps? "I feel ready for another innings," he replied. Batsmen in form rarely want anything else. "You have to be a bit cold hearted about this," he said. "The priority is to make sure the XI for Brisbane has the best possible preparation." Alastair Cook has now joined the ranks of fulfilled England batsmen, ahead of that first Test at The Gabba. Cook, 111 not out, and Strauss, 102, both made second-innings hundreds against South Australia yesterday before light rain more reminiscent of Derby in early May washed out hopes of a second England victory. "Everyone wants to get runs early in a tour and settle down to the conditions. Conditions are different and you need to adjust your game. It wasn't just that Alastair got runs. His foot movement was very good and his timing was crisp so he will be feeling pretty good about himself." Even allowing for the fact that his feet were moving again, Cook's innings was not the most handsome — he reached his hundred with one of his dodgiest moments, a top-edged pull over the wicketkeeper's head — whereas Strauss could not have looked more in his element as South Australia's pace bowlers repeatedly dropped short. SA were affected by the absence of their fast-medium bowler Jake Haberfield with a leg injury and a worsening debut for Tim Lang, scathingly dismissed by one spectator as "another of our imports from New South Wales." There was more chance of England's batsmen being roughed up ahead of the first Test by an over-officious steward. Strauss and Cook had put on 94 overnight and extended that to 181 in 42 overs before Strauss was bowled attempting to slog sweep the left-arm spinner Aaron O'Brien, a shot with which he had successfully cleared the ropes minutes earlier to bring up his hundred from only 118 balls. After two warm-up matches against Western Australia and South Australia, every one of England's top six averages 40-plus and has at least one half-century, Jonathan Trott apart. Even Trott has used his time at the crease for several prolonged net sessions. He managed another 45 minutes yesterday and understandably looked in no rush to leave the field when Strauss' declaration came 20 minutes before lunch. At times like this, the only solution is for England's medical staff to invent cricket's version of nicotine patches and satisfy Trott's craving by feeding him runs through his skin. The light rain that then washed out the entire afternoon session would only have added to Trott's frustration, as it made South Australia's target of 308 to win in 65 overs entirely notional and encouraged the thought that England might as well have opted for batting practice. But England wish to release their fast-bowling trio from the final warm-up match against Australia A in Hobart next week, so another brief bowl was beneficial, even if it no longer possessed the intensity that Strauss' declaration had intended. Anderson briefly impressed as SA finished on 48-2, taking both wickets and also missing a third when Paul Collingwood dropped Daniel Harris in the slips. "Everyone will fly down to Hobart and then we will talk to the bowlers individually," Strauss said. There is definitely the option to send them up to Brisbane and get them acclimatised but we haven't decided at this stage." But the likelihood is that Anderson, Broad and Finn will turn up in Tasmania for appearances' sake, and then fly north to Brisbane a few days early to allow themselves a week to acclimatize to Queensland's heat and humidity under the supervision of England's bowling coach David Saker. England could field not just Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett against Australia A but also Ajmal Shahzad, who was not named in the original 16 but who Strauss was at pains to stress "is an important member of our squad." Cricket Australia's concern about the game's faltering hold on an Australian public, with television audiences down and participation among teenage boys also falling, has encouraged them to turn the announcement of their Ashes squad into a marketing exercise. The squad will be announced in an extravagant public affair in First Fleet Park on Circular Quay in Sydney on Monday at 11.30am (00.30am GMT) fully 10 days before the start of the Brisbane Test, which could force the selectors to announce a larger-than-usual party and so make the exercise largely redundant. At least the setting has an obvious historical relevance. The park commemorates the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 — the first 11 ships carrying convicts and marines that landed in Sydney harbour after Botany Bay was pronounced as unsuitable and who made up the first non-Aboriginal settlers in Australia.