TOWNSVILLE: Mark Stoneman scored the first century of the Ashes tour as Alastair Cook regained form in England’s match against a Cricket Australia (CA) XI in Townsville on Thursday. The in-form Surrey left-hander cracked 111 off 159 balls and shared in a 172-run opening stand with former skipper Cook as the tourists clubbed their way to 337 for three at the close on the second day of the four-day game. In the final warm-up game ahead of next week’s Ashes Test series opener against Australia in Brisbane, Cook finally found some batting form with 70 off 127 balls after a run of low scores. At stumps, captain Joe Root was unbeaten on 62 with Dawid Malan on 57 to cap a pleasing day for the English against a lightweight CA XI bowling attack. Regardless of the strength of the inexperienced bowling opposition, England’s batsmen spent precious time out in the middle ahead of the first Gabba Test, starting on November 23. Coach Trevor Bayliss had said after England’s thumping 192-run victory over the CA XI in Adelaide last week that his batsmen had to score big. Stoneman, who has been England’s best-performing batsman on tour with three half-centuries, got on with the job on Thursday before he was caught and bowled by leg-spinner Daniel Fallins immediately after tea. CA XI first innings (Overnight 249-9): N. Larkin c Vince b Woakes 30 J. Carder c Bairstow b Woakes 39 R. Gibson c sub(Foakes)b Woakes 7 W. Pucovski c Bairstow b Overton 20 J. Sangha lbw b Woakes 0 M. Short c Root b Overton 51 H. Nielsen c Vince b Woakes 20 S. Milenko b Woakes 19 G. Sandhu c Vince b Broad 25 D. Fallins not out 29 H. Conway c Stoneman b Broad 1 Extras: (lb4, nb 5) 9 Total: (91.3 overs) 250 Fall: 1-66 (Larkin), 2-75 (Carder), 3-91 (Gibson), 4-91 (Sangha), 5-118 (Pucovski), 6-162 (Nielsen), 7-176 (Short), 8-212 (Milenko), 9-230 (Sandhu), 10-250 (Conway) Bowling: Broad 16.3-5-33-2 (1nb), Woakes 19-3-55-6, Moeen Ali 16-4-39-0, Overton 18-4-32-2, Crane 22-3-87-0 (4nb) England first innings: A. Cook c Nielsen b Short 70 M. Stoneman c and b Fallins 111 J. Vince c Sangha b Fallins 26 J. Root not out 62 D. Malan not out 57 Extras: (w1, nb10) 11 Total: (for 3 wkts, 86 overs) 337 Fall: 1-172 (Cook), 2-214 (Vince), 3-217 (Stoneman) To bat: J. Bairstow, M. Ali, C. Woakes, C. Overton, S. Broad, M. Crane Bowling: Sandhu 17-4-78-0 (6nb), Conway 15-3-60-0, Milenko 15-1-57-0 (1w, 4nb), Short 17-1-57-1, Fallins 20-0-71-2, Sangha 2-0-14-0 Toss: CA XI Umpires: Nathan Johnstone (AUS) and Paul Wilson (AUS) Match Referee: Bob Parry (AUS).
