LONDON: England captain Alastair Cook maintained his excellent form in the run-up to the Test series against Sri Lanka with a third County Championship hundred of the season on Monday.

Cook’s unbeaten 130 and Tom’s Westley’s innings of 125 helped Second Division leaders Essex to a total of 335 for two at stump son the second day away to Worcestershire at New Road.

Left-handed opener Cook’s latest hundred came off 206 balls, including a six and 15 fours.

The 31-year-old’s innings followed scores of 105 against Gloucestershire and 127 not out against Sussex.

This match is set to be Cook’s final first-class appearance before he returns to England duty for the first of a three-Test home series with Sri Lanka, starting at Yorkshire’s Headingley headquarters in Leeds on May 19.

Summarised scores:

First Division:

At Southampton:

Hampshire 336 (M Carberry 107, L Dawson 89) v Middlesex 84-3

At Trent Bridge:

Nottinghamshire 261 (S Mullaney 78; J Brooks 4-74) v Yorkshire 170-4 (A Lees 91 no)

At Taunton:

Lancashire 493-9 dec (L Livingstone 108 no, S Croft 94, A Petersen 83) v Somerset 14-0

At The Oval:

Surrey 457 (A Harinath 96, S Davies 87, J Roy 64; B Stokes 4-117) v Durham 156-2 (M Stoneman 57, K Jennings 53)

Second Division:

At Canterbury:

Glamorgan 260 (C Meschede 63; M Claydon 4-59) and 16-1 v Kent 488 (D Bell-Drummond 84, D Stevens 58, J Denly 58, M Claydon 55, T Latham 53; M Hogan 4-91)

At Northampton:

Derbyshire 324 (S Thakor 83 no; Mohammad Azharullah 4-95) v Northamptonshire 66-0

At Hove:

Sussex 163 (E Joyce 56; B Raine 4-30) v Leicestershire 300-4 (P Horton 100, M Cosgrove 80)

At New Road:

Essex 335-2 (A Cook 130 no, T Westley 125) v Worcestershire.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016