Alastair Cook scores 104no after Stuart Broad takes 4-51 as England boss day two at MCG

Alastair Cook returned to form with an unbeaten 104 after Stuart Broad bagged four wickets as England controlled day two of the fourth Ashes Test against Australia in Melbourne.

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Cook's 32nd century in Tests and his first since he amassed 243 against Windies at Edgbaston in August 11 innings ago, helped England to 192-2 by the close, a deficit of 135 runs, after Broad's first four-wicket haul in over a year had seen Australia slump from 260-3 to 327 all out.

Tom Curran triggered a collapse of 7-67 by making Steve Smith (76) his maiden Test wicket - a day after he had David Warner (103) caught off a no-ball on 99 - while James Anderson (3-51) moved onto 521 Test scalps, above Courtney Walsh (519) and into outright fifth on the all-time list.

Cook, who had hit just 83 runs at an average of 13.83 in the first three Ashes Tests, then led England's reply with crisp strokes all around the wicket en route to a 164-ball ton - his first in the Ashes since 2011 - although he was given a lifeline on 66 when Smith spilled a catch at slip after Mitchell Marsh found the edge.

Nathan Lyon took a superb caught-and-bowled one handed to his right to dismiss Mark Stoneman off a leading edge (15), while James Vince (17) was pinned lbw by Josh Hazlewood after not realising he had got a faint inside-edge onto a delivery with a hint of reverse swing.

But Cook and Joe Root (49no) batted to the close, sharing an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 112 - England's third hundred partnership of the series - against an Australia attack shorn of the injured Mitchell Starc and featuring an unwell Pat Cummins.

England's bowlers, bar the out-of-sorts Moeen Ali, impressed, although they were aided by three chop-ons - Smith, Mitchell Marsh (9) and Tim Paine (24) dragging onto their wicket.

Smith added just 11 runs to his overnight score before he fell chasing a short, wide ball from Curran, the England debutant becoming the first man to dismiss Smith in an MCG Test since India's Umesh Yadav in 2014.

Mitchell Marsh departed in similar fashion, to Chris Woakes, while his brother, Shaun (61), was out lbw to Broad on review after passing fifty for the third time in the series - Root's decision to contest the original not-out decision vindicated with the ball shown to be striking the top of off stump.

Broad's wickets of Jackson Bird (4) and Pat Cummins (4) - lbw and caught behind by Cook respectively - were sandwiched by two Anderson scalps, the 35-year-old moving above Walsh as Paine pulled onto his poles and then polishing off the innings by trapping Lyon lbw.

Broad's maiden four-for since the second Test against India in Visakhpatnam last November was his first real impact in the Ashes series - his bowling average had been a shade under 62 beforehand - and Cook soon made his, reaching fifty from 89 balls with a whipped boundary off the struggling Cummins.

Cook's customary cuts, clips and pulls were interspersed with confident drives as he coasted past his previous top score of the Test winter, the 37 he notched in the day-night Test in Adelaide, and recorded his fourth fifty-plus total for England in 2017.

The left-hander prodded at a Marsh delivery midway through the final session but Smith was unable to cling on diving low to his right as Cook went on to complete his fifth ton against Australia off the part time leg-spin of Smith in the final over of the day.

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