Cook keeps England bubbling

Alastair Cook put England in heartening shape with an unbeaten half-century on the second morning against an ICC Combined XI at the GCA ground in Dubai Sports City.

Fast bowler Hamid Hassan, who was to suffer a nasty injury chasing to the boundary to try to cut off the four which brought up Cook's 50, took the wickets of both Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott in the first hour.

But in reply to the Combined XI's 281 in this three-day match, Cook (63no) and Kevin Pietersen then steered England to lunch on 98 for two.

Cook's only alarm, in a 66-ball 50 which contained 10 fours, came when Boyd Rankin discomforted him with a well-directed short ball early in his innings.

The left-hander got in a tangle and was unable to get the ball effectively to ground, but no short-leg had been posted at that stage.

Strauss survived two loud lbw appeals before pulling Hassan into the hands of square-leg, and Trott had only a single when he got a faint edge down the leg-side to be caught behind.

A watchful Pietersen needed 10 balls to get off the mark, but did so with a trademark big stride for a four through midwicket - and on this benign surface, he and Cook had an obvious opportunity to cash in this afternoon with the ball already 29 overs old.

Afghani seamer Hassan tumbled over a picket fence and into the metal and concrete tramlines around the sightscreen, badly bruising and grazing his arms and legs.

The match was held up for several minutes while he was assessed at the ground, before being taken away on a stretcher to hospital.