When Jordan Cox was 19, playing in his fifth first-class match and unbeaten overnight on 167 for Kent against Sussex, he decided to set himself a new task. Cox told Sam Billings, his captain and an England international, that he would go past Billings’ first-class best of 171. The top scores of other teammates were in sight, too.
Cox finished on 238 not out. Six years on, that confidence and bit of swagger made its way to Leeds, with Cox resuming on 23 after England’s near-perfect Wednesday. There were no visible nerves, no rollerskates on the feet.
A few gentle taps of the ground, a small shift on to the back foot and then plenty of time before he presented the middle. He looked on holiday while batting in only his second Test, and that too with the responsibility of building a first-innings lead at first drop. Joe Root, 167 Tests in, was at the other end and Cox did not look out of place alongside his captain.
The pair have done a bit of this now. Just last week they were decked out in red, trying to launch it together in the Hundred. Strong Welsh Fire, strong England?
A first international ton was on. He wasn’t going to be rushed by any of Pakistan’s seamers, with no one in the visiting attack capable of testing his ability against the bouncer. When Khurram Shahzad went short against Cox, the ball came out wide at 76mph, the lack of fizz possibly catching the right-hander off guard: a half‑hearted baseball swing offered the bowler a return catch he couldn’t take.
A near-identical delivery immediately followed, with Cox quickly learning his lesson to nail the pull for four. There wasn’t much of a celebration when he reached 50, suggesting this was not what he had come for. Ali Usman and some left-arm spin brought about Cox’s demise on 73, a prod off the back foot producing an outside edge.
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