Chittagong: Alastair Cook will become England’s most capped Test player on Thursday when he leads his team against Bangladesh in the first Test in Chittagong.
Here are some of the highlights in the career of the former choirboy, who has been widely tipped to ultimately become the highest run-scorer in the history of Test match cricket.
The unforgettable debut (March 2006)
Cook made his debut for England during the 2006 tour of India, a surprise call-up after Marcus Trescothick flew home with personal problems. The 21-year-old had been on tour in the Caribbean with the England ‘A’ team but he was thrown straight into the team for the first Test in Nagpur, where he scored 60 and then an unbeaten 104 in a sensational debut. Wisden reported that Cook possessed “a compact technique and tremendous temperament” that has stood him in good stead ever since.
Glory down under (November-December 2010)
Having suffered a whitewash at the hands of the Aussies in the early years of his Test career, Cook was in seventh heaven as England pulverised the old enemy on their home turf during the 2010 Ashes. He began the series by scoring an unbeaten 235 in The Gabba, so often the graveyard of England’s hopes, prompting The Sydney Morning Herald to quip that “Australia have been cooked and served up for supper”. He then hit 148 in the second Test and 189 in the fifth match in Sydney, averaging more than 127 for the series.
The highest score (August 2011)
Having totalled just 20 runs in his first four innings, Cook went into the third Test at Edgbaston of the 2011 series against India in need of a big score. His innings of 294 was the highest by an England batsman since Graham Gooch scored a triple century 21 years earlier. Cook hit 33 boundaries during a 773-minute stay at the crease as England crushed India by an innings and 242 runs.
Marathon in the Gulf (October 2015)
England almost pulled off a dramatic victory on the final day of the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow indulging in a slog fest before bad light intervened. But the stage had been set by Cook in the first innings as he spent an astonishing 835 minutes at the crease as he compiled a painstaking 263 — the third longest individual innings in Test match history. “It is just an unbelievable will to concentrate for that long,” said England coach Trevor Bayliss.
The 10,000-run club (May 2016)
Cook became the first English batsman to score 10,000 Test runs during the second Test against Sri Lanka at The Riverside in Durham, reaching the landmark with a four through midwicket off Nuwan Pradeep. At 31 years and 157 days, he was also the youngest, beating the record of India great Sachin Tendulkar who was 31 years and 326 days when he scored his 10,000th Test run. Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar, who was the first player to breach the 10,000 mark, backed Cook to beat Tendulkar’s record saying “he has age on his side” and pointing out that England play more Tests than any other nation.
