Australia v England, 5th Test, Sydney, 3rd day

England 7 for 488 (Cook 189, Bell 115, Johnson 3-97) lead Australia 280 by 208 runs 

Stats:

Alastair Cook's aggregate of 766 runs is the second highest by an England batsman in an Ashes series. The highest is Wally Hammond's 905 runs in 1928-29.

Cook's century was his third of the series, making it the 23rd occasion that a batsman has scored three or more hundreds in an Ashes series. The previous occasion that an England batsman achieved this was when Michael Vaughan scored three centuries in 2002-03.

The 154 run stand between Cook and Ian Bell is the fifth highest for the sixth wicket for a visiting team in Australia.

England have passed 400 in four of the five Tests so far, which is the second time that a visiting team has achieved the feat. The last time England scored more than 400 on at least four occasions in a Test series in Australia was in 1928-29.

Bell scored his first Ashes century in his 18th Test. He has now scored 11 half-centuries and one century at an average of 32.36.

He was also dropped on 84, a firmly-struck return catch to Steve Smith, but was rarely troubled and reached his hundred with a back-foot push through the covers. While Bell didn't sweat much in the 90s, Cook had a nervous wait on 99 when he flicked a delivery from Michael Beer towards short leg where Phil Hughes claimed the catch and the Australians began celebrating. Cook, though, stood his ground and TV replays showed the ball clearly bounced and Hughes was unsure before joining in late with the appeal.

It was the second time Beer had been denied Cook's wicket after yesterday's no-ball and in the spinner's next over, Cook worked a single into the leg side to reach his hundred. He'd had a few other tricky moments, when he edged Shane Watson short of second slip on 87 then after passing his hundred nearly chipped Beer to midwicket, but it was a commanding display as he worked his way through the record books once again.

It was a huge moment of relief for Beer who gave the umpire a quick look, just to make sure, and this time was able to celebrate his first Test wicket. At that point the match was fascinatingly poised but it was the last time Australia had any grip on proceedings. Now they face a mighty task to escape with a draw.