'The future of England cricket'

SIR Alastair Cook hailed Ashes centurion Jacob Bethell as “the future of England” after he eased the end-of-tour gloom on day four in Sydney with a sparking 142 not out.

- 

Bethell - 22-years-old and playing just his sixth Test match -made a mockery of the awkward fact he had never before scored a first-class hundred with a gem of an innings at the SCG. Barbados-born Bethell, dubbed ‘Starboy’ by Englands official X account, walked out in the first over of England’s reply to Australia’s 567, with a first innings deficit of 187 runs but showed maturity beyond his years to carry the tourists’ to the close on 302 for eight, with a slender 119-run advantage.