When a 21-year-old Alastair Cook stepped out to bat at Nagpur in November 2006 against India in his debut Test match, little did the cricketing world know that in the coming years, many of the Test batting records will be jeopardised.
But it didn’t take long. Within the next five days, Cook’s prowess came to the fore as he notched up 60 and 104 in both innings.
Twelve years since his debut, after owning most of the English Test cricket records, former English captain Alastair Cook decided to bid farewell to the game against India at the Oval in the most special way possible for a batsman. With a century in his very last innings, Cook again etched his name in cricket history books.
Owning may be a strong word but it is also the most befitting word for Cook – who is now at the top of all batting record charts for English batsmen
The One Who Owned Test Batting
With his plethora of records, Cook finish his career on a high. His record for most consecutive appearances of 159 Tests will be standing tall at least for the next few years, since the next four batsmen in the list have already retired from cricket.
Cook is the most-capped English cricketer in Test with 161 matches. In these 161 matches, Cook has scored a whopping 12,472 runs at an average of 45.35 to top the list of English batsmen with the most number of Test runs.
Next in the list is Graham Gooch, who made 8,900 runs – 3,354 runs less than Cook.
Cook, who was 147 runs behind Kumar Sangakkara before the start of the Oval Test, surpassed him to become the fifth-highest scorer in Test history. He is still the youngest player to score 6,000, 7,000, 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket.
The left-hander has also set an English record for the most Test centuries with 33 triple-figure scores, becoming one of only 13 players to ever make more than 30 centuries.
Not only in Tests, but also overall, Cook is England’s highest run-scorer with 15,737 runs and 38 centuries.
Right from his first innings till his final innings, Cook continued his affair with the record books. He became only the fifth batsman in the history of cricket to score a century in his final as well as farewell Test.
Alastair Cook was unbeaten on 106 in the second innings against India in his debut match in Nagpur in 2006. His maiden triple-figure score was preceded by a well made 60 in his first-ever Test innings.
Fast forward to 2018, Cook decided to bow out in exactly the same manner as how he had started it. He was pretty ordinary in the first four Tests of his final series. But a 71 in the first innings and a 147 in the second made sure that Cook had the most befitting farewell and become a part of an elite list.
The Destructive Visitor
Cook has played a pivotal role in England’s successful campaigns away from home. Since Cook’s debut, England has become a better touring side.
Cook’s prowess away from home was striking in his debut match against India in India. It wasn’t a fluke. His batting record in Asia is a witness to that.
He has scored the most number of runs by a visiting batsman in Tests in Asia.
In the 28 matches Cook has played in the sub-continent, he has gone onto score 2,710 runs at a mind blowing average of 53.14, with nine centuries.
Cook’s heroics are not only concentrated in Asia. In the 2010-11 Ashes series in Australia, he scored 766 runs, at an average of 127.66 with three centuries and two fifties. His antics with the bat helped England win their first Ashes in Australia in 24 years.
The Opening Batsman
Cook has played most of the games at the number one or two spot on the batting line-up. And why not since he is one of the best in the business.
Cook’s record as an opener is impeccable. Not many opening batsman in Test cricket boast of topping a record list which also includes Sunil Gavaskar. With 11,845 runs as an opening batsman, Cook is far ahead in the list of most runs by an opening batsman in Test cricket. His has almost 2,000 runs more than any opening batsman in history. Sunil Gavaskar has the second-most Test runs for an opener with 9,607 runs.
As far as centuries are concerned, Cook is second on list, ahead of Australia’s Matthew Hayden, at 31. Gavaskar wins this duel with 33.
The Captain
Cook became the captain of England for the first time in 2010. He went onto lead his side to 2-0 win against Bangladesh at their own backyard. He took over the reins permanently after Andrew Strauss retired in 2012.
He went on to captain the English side in 59 Tests between 2010-2016, which is again a record. In the process, he surpassed Michael Atherton’s record of leading England in 54 Tests.
During his tenure as the captain, Cook made the most number of Test runs as England’s captain – 4,844 runs at an average of 46.57, along with 12 centuries.
The biggest highlight of Cook’s career was leading England to two Ashes wins in 2013 and 2015. Another memorable series win under him was England’s 2010 Test series victory against India, a first on the Indian soil since 1984-85. Cook scored 176 at Motera, 122 in Mumbai and 190 in Kolkata during that series.
(Statistics by Arun Gopalakrishnan)
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