England hero Alastair Cook delighted with double hundred despite it coming 'three or four weeks too late'

Cook batted for the entire day at the MCG departing at the close unbeaten on 244

Alastair Cook enjoyed the adulation after a brilliant double hundred (Getty)

Alastair Cook admitted he feared his England place was in danger until his unbeaten 244 in the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG. It was Cook’s first innings of substance since last summer, and despite coming, as he put it “three or four weeks too late”, the country’s all-time leading Test run-scorer took immense satisfaction in what he described as “one of the more emotional” innings of his international career.

Cook has never been dropped by England in Test cricket, and has played 149 consecutive Test matches since 2006, the year of his debut. But amid his poor recent run of form, he said: “They would have been entitled to. Just because I literally hadn’t scored a run since Edgbaston. Two West Indies games, three here and some warm-up games.

“I always feel I’ve got the backing of the selectors, but you’ve still got to deliver the goods. And I hadn’t done that. It was frustrating.”

For all the runs he has scored, the records he has broken, did he ever doubt himself? “Yeah, 100 per cent. I’ve doubted myself for 12 years. I’ll probably continue to doubt myself. The longer it goes, the harder it becomes. That’s why I’m quite proud of going to the well again and delivering a performance like that.

“It’s a shame that it’s three or four weeks too late. I’ll have to live with that for a long time.”

Although Cook has made a career out of heavy scoring, it was in many ways the atypical Cook innings - full of good-looking shots, drives down the ground and attacking intent. “You have a bit less to lose when your highest score [in the series] is 30-odd,” he said. “I suppose I had nothing to lose, in one sense. I thought I’d play a bit more positively.

“With my batting, there’s quite a few moving parts to it. When they’re not quite in sync, it can be quite frustrating. One way of delivering it is time in the middle. I got to 40 and it felt like the old movements were back. If I could put my finger on exactly what it was, it would probably save me a lot of strife.

“A few times in your career, you get into that bit of rhythm where time just flies back. This tour, batting for half an hour has felt like two hours. For some reason, the last 10 hours has gone quickly. It’s a strange sport, and probably why it drives you mad.”

Cook's majestic innings was in many ways atypical (Getty)

Australian coach Darren Lehmann, meanwhile, conceded that Australia’s hopes of victory and thus a 5-0 series whitewash were effectively over. Asked whether his side would look to push for victory, he retorted: “We’re 160 runs behind, mate. We’d have to get 450 in a day. How do you want us to do that? Slog?

“We’ve got to worry about getting past them first. That’s the first challenge. England scored reasonably quickly, but you would think we’re not going to score as quickly as that, so we’re just going to be passing them by stumps tomorrow night. So what do you want us to set them?”

Lehmann also complained about the lack of life in the pitch. “You’d like a bit more bounce and pace,” he griped. “Obviously it’s a big weapon of ours. But you’ve got to chop and change. Look, it is what it is, and we just get on with it.