Alastair Cook

For the journalist and broadcaster, see Alistair Cooke. For the historian and politician, see Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden.

Sir
Alastair Cook

CBE
Cook in 2016
Personal information
Full name
Alastair Nathan Cook
Born (1984-12-25) 25 December 1984 (age 39)
Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
NicknameCookie, Chef, Captain Cook
Height6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight-arm slow seam
RoleOpening batsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 630)1 March 2006 v India
Last Test7 September 2018 v India
ODI debut (cap 196)28 June 2006 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI16 December 2014 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no.26
T20I debut (cap 24)28 June 2007 v West Indies
Last T20I15 November 2009 v South Africa
T20I shirt no.26
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2002Bedfordshire
2003Essex Cricket Board
2003–2023Essex (squad no. 26)
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 161 92 352 178
Runs scored 12,472 3,204 26,643 6,510
Batting average 45.35 36.40 46.41 39.93
100s/50s 33/57 5/19 74/125 13/38
Top score 294 137 294 137
Balls bowled 18 – 294 18
Wickets 1 – 7 0
Bowling average 7.00 – 32.00 –
5 wickets in innings 0 – 0 –
10 wickets in match 0 – 0 –
Best bowling 1/6 – 3/13 –
Catches/stumpings 175/– 36/– 386/– 73/–
Medal record
Men's Cricket
Representing  England
ICC Champions Trophy
Runner-up 2013 England and Wales
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 29 September 2023

Sir Alastair Nathan Cook CBE (born 25 December 1984) is an English former cricketer and former captain of the England Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams. He is considered one of the greatest opening batsmen in Test cricket. Cook is the sixth-highest Test run scorer of all time and second-highest run scorer for England ever. He retired from Test cricket in September 2018 and played for Essex County Cricket Club in English domestic cricket until 2023, while also working for the BBC radio programme Test Match Special, between his commitments for Essex.

Cook is England's most-capped specialist test batsman and captained the England team in 59 Tests, as well as in 69 ODIs.[1] He is the second highest run-scorer in Test matches for England, and the youngest player to score 12,000 Test runs (the sixth overall). Cook scored a record 33 Test centuries for England and is the first England player to win 50 Test matches.[2] A left-handed opening batsman (the highest-scoring left-hander in Tests), he normally fielded at first slip.

Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003. He played in several of England's youth teams from 2000 until his call up to the Test side in 2006. While touring in the West Indies with the ECB National Academy, Cook was called up to the England national team in India as a last-minute replacement for Marcus Trescothick and debuted, aged 21, with a century. He went on to score 1,000 runs in his maiden year and made centuries in his first Test matches against India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Bangladesh.[3] Cook played a pivotal role in England winning the 2009 Ashes series, and, after deputising as Test captain in 2010 and then taking ODI captaincy full-time, in retaining the Ashes in 2010–11.

He was appointed captain of the Test team after Andrew Strauss's retirement on 29 August 2012. Cook captained England to its first Test series victory in India since 1984–85.[4] During the tour he became the first captain to score a century in each of his first five Tests in charge.[5] On 30 May 2015, Cook became the leading run-scorer in Test matches for England, surpassing Graham Gooch (8900).[6] After England's 2016 tour of Bangladesh and India, he stepped down as Test captain. On 24 May 2018 during the first Test against Pakistan, Cook equalled Allan Border's record for appearing in the greatest number of consecutive Test matches, with 153, surpassing it a week later in the second Test at Headingley.[7] On 3 September 2018, Cook announced that his twelve-year international career would end at the conclusion of the series against India on 11 September 2018. He announced the end of his career as a professional cricketer in a statement on 13 October 2023.[8] Fellow former England captain Michael Vaughan wrote that "we will never see a batsman like Alastair Cook again"[9] while cricket writer Scyld Berry wrote of "the four ways Alastair Cook stands out as England’s greatest... he embodied the virtues which English people traditionally value: stoicism, modesty and self-effacement, all tinged with humour."[10]

Cook was appointed MBE in 2011[11][12] and promoted to CBE in 2016 for services to cricket.[13] In the 2019 New Year Honours, Cook was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to cricket.[14]

On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB.[15]

  1. ^ "England Test captain Alastair Cook steps down". ecb.co.uk. England and Wales Cricket Board. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Alastair Cook's record-breaking career: the extraordinary stats behind England's highest-scoring batsman". Retrieved 10 September 2018
  3. ^ Brett, Oliver (9 June 2007). "Cook hundred keeps England on top". BBC. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2007.
  4. ^ "England end 28-year drought with 2–1 win". Wisden India. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  5. ^ "India v England: record-breaker Alastair Cook scores 23rd Test century to put tourists firmly in control of third Test". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  6. ^ "Alastair Cook: Captain becomes England's leading Test run scorer". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Cook equals Border record". Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Alastair Cook announces retirement". Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  9. ^ Vaughan, Michael (13 October 2023). "We will never see a batsman like Alastair Cook again". The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  10. ^ Berry, Scyld (13 October 2023). "The four ways Alastair Cook stands out as England's greatest". The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  11. ^ "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 15.
  12. ^ "Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook lead Birthday Honours list". BBC. 10 June 2011. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  13. ^ "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B8.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "England's greatest Test XI revealed". ICC. 30 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2009.