Arise Sir Alistair Cook

Arise Sir Alistair Cook

I wrote this a while ago when he retired. The article is still valid

Congratulations Sir on new years honours

One of England's finest servants

Is Alistair Cook the greatest batsman of England ? No

Is he their greatest opener ? Nope

Will he be a part of England's all time XI ? Nope

At best he would be part of England's all time 3rd XI

No other country has a collection of gifted openers through their history as England. has. Alistair Cook is the latest addition to this XI. For the past 12 years Cook opened the batting for England and averaged around 46 facing the brand new duke ball in swinging English conditions for most of those games. While Cook became the 5th highest run scorer of all time, his average is notably weaker than the rest of the legends around him. In Cook's defense only Sunil Gavaskar is the other opener in the 10000 club and he too didn't open in swinging conditions for most of his life.

Cook is not a gifted player. People seldom turn out to a ground to watch Cook bat. He is a guy who squeezed out every bit of performance from his limited talent. Yet Cook also possessed a rare talent. A remarkable ability to maintain concentration to long periods of time. That is why when he sets himself up to the task he can go on batting for a long period of time. He is the only person to feature twice in 10 longest innings in cricket.

Cook's finest hour in cricket is 2010-11 ashes series. In top form Cook scored 766 runs, highest by a visiting English batsman in a series in the last 80 years, guiding England to a series win down under for the first time since 1986-87. Needless to say Cook became the player of the series.

In 2012 Cook lead England to a series win in India, the only team to beat India in India since Aussies triumphed in 2004. In addition to captaining Cook lead became the top scorer and the player of the series.

My personal favorite Cooks innings is the 263 he made in Abu Dabi against Pakistan. In the grueling heat Cook batted for a total of 836 minutes, 3rd longest in the history of cricket.

Apart from cricket Cook is known for his likeness to farming. He uses a farm tractor as his wedding car.

I feel that Cook could go on for a little while longer. But being a master-chef he knows the best when to stop. #ThankYouChef #CookRetires