Adelaide ton gave me the self-belief: Cook

SYDNEY: England batsman Alastair Cook, who smashed 189 runs in the first innings of the fifth Ashes Test here Wednesday, said the century in the second Test in Adelaide gave him the self-belief that he could score runs in Australia.

Cook has amassed 766 runs in the series, scoring three hundreds and two fifties. His tally is only second to Wally Hammond's record of 905 runs during the 1928-29 series.

The series was a turnaround for the southpaw as he was struggling for runs before the start of the series and did not make runs in the warm-up game.

"In the second game, when I scored the 100 in the second innings I thought, 'okay, I can score runs in Australia'," Cook was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Just that little bit of confidence you always need and that time in the middle, so my gameplan does work if I execute it well and that plan has served me well in this trip."

Cook's 189 runs put England in a strong position.

"Any time you score a big hundred for England it is a big moment," he said.

"Obviously at a very good ground as well, very famous ground, it is deeply satisfying.

"You could only have dreamt about it six or seven weeks ago, especially after that warm-up game where I did not get any runs this looked a long way away.

"I can't really believe what I have achieved and what the side has achieved. It has been a good couple of months but we have got two days of hard work left."