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Alastair Cook

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Alastair Cook
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Personal information
Full name Alastair Nathan Cook
Born 25 December 1984 (1984-12-25) (age 40)
Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
Nickname Woody, Cooky, Chef, Golden Boy, Ali, The Run-Machine
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Batting style Left-hand
Bowling style Right-arm off break
Role Opening batsman, England Test and ODI captain
International information
National side England
Test debut (cap 630) 1 March 2006 v India
Last Test 7 September 2018 v India
ODI debut (cap 196) 28 June 2006 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI 16 December 2014 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no. 26
Domestic team information
Years Team
2002 Bedfordshire
2003 Essex Cricket Board
2003–present Essex (squad no. 26)
2004–2007 MCC
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 161 92 289 160
Runs scored 12,472 3,204 22,604 5,851
Batting average 45.35 36.40 47.38 39.80
100s/50s 33/57 5/19 63/107 12/34
Top scores 294 137 294 137
Balls bowled 18 – 282 18
Wickets 1 – 7 0
Bowling average 7.00 – 30.14 –
5 wickets in innings 0 – 0 –
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 1/6 – 3/13 –
Catches/stumpings 175/– 36/– 306/– 66/–
Source: Cricinfo, 11 September 2018

Alastair Nathan Cook, (CBE) (born 25 December 1984) is an English cricketer who plays for Essex County Cricket Club, and formerly for England in all international formats. A former captain of the England Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams, he holds a number of English and international records. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen ever to play for England, and is one of the most prolific batsmen of the modern era. Cook is the fifth highest Test run scorer of all time.

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 with a century. Debuting at 21 years of age, Cook went on to become the youngest Englishman to reach 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 Test runs, making centuries in his first Test matches against India, Pakistan and the West Indies, and becoming the first Englishman to score seven Test centuries before his 23rd birthday. Despite this prodigious flurry of runs, Cook came under criticism throughout 2008 for a lack of centuries but replied with two in 2009, and 95 against Australia to help seal England's first victory against them at Lord's since 1934, taking seven catches in the series including the final wicket to win the 2009 Ashes series.

Early life and education[]

Born in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Alastair Cook is one of several players with Welsh heritage to play for England; his mother Stephanie, a teacher, is from Swansea, although his father Graham, a high street banker and village cricketer, is English. Cook is a keen musician. By the age of eight, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral while also learning the clarinet. His choral flair led to him being granted a scholarship to Bedford School when he was 14. While being educated in Bedford he also learned to play piano and saxophone. However, music was soon eclipsed when the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) came to play against the Bedford XI. The home side were a man short and drafted the 14 year-old new boy to play; Cook scored a century. Over the next four years he hit 17 centuries and two double-hundreds to total 4,396 runs at an average of 87.90, captaining the cricket team in his final year as well as being president of the music society. He also gained three A-Levels and nine GCSEs in his time there. In his final year at Bedford in 2003 he scored 1,287 runs for the school including two unbeaten double-hundreds, averaging 160.87 to take the school record. After his international success, Cook returned for an Old Boys match at Bedford in 2008, playing for the HM Ultimate XI.

In August 2012 Andrew Strauss suddenly retired and Cookie was captain. His 1st test was in India from November. He lost it but England won Tests 2 & 3 and drew the 4th, giving them their 1st series win in India since 1986.

In August 2013 he retained the Ashes after winning the 1st 2 Tests easily and England being saved from defeat in the 3d Test by the rain at Old Trafford; so the match was drawn.

Test cricket centuries[]

List of Test centuries scored by Alastair Cook
No. Score Against Pos. Inn. Test Venue H/A/N Date Result
1 104* India 2 3 1/3 Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur Away 02006-03-011 March 2006 Drawn
2 105 Pakistan 3 1 1/4 Lord's, London Home 02006-07-1313 July 2006 Drawn
3 127 Pakistan 3 2 2/4 Old Trafford, Manchester Home 02006-07-2727 July 2006 Won
4 116 Australia 2 4 3/5 WACA Ground, Perth Away 02006-12-1414 December 2006 Lost
5 105 dagger West Indies 2 1 1/4 Lord's, London Home 02007-05-1717 May 2007 Drawn
6 106 West Indies 2 3 3/4 Old Trafford, Manchester Home 02007-06-077 June 2007 Won
7 118 Sri Lanka 1 3 3/3 Galle International Stadium, Galle Away 02007-12-1818 December 2007 Drawn
8 139* West Indies 2 3 4/5 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Away 02009-02-2626 February 2009 Drawn
9 160 West Indies 2 1 1/1 Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street Home 02009-05-1414 May 2009 Won
10 118 South Africa 2 2 1/4 Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban Away 02009-12-2626 December 2009 Won
11 173 double-dagger Bangladesh 1 1 1/2 Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong Away 02010-03-1212 March 2010 Won
12 109* double-dagger Bangladesh 1 4 2/2 Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka Away 02010-03-2020 March 2010 Won
13 110 Pakistan 2 3 3/4 The Oval, London Home 02010-08-1818 August 2010 Lost
14 235* dagger Australia 2 3 1/5 The Gabba, Brisbane Away 02010-11-2525 November 2010 Drawn
15 148 Australia 2 2 2/5 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Away 02010-12-033 December 2010 Won
16 189 dagger Australia 2 2 5/5 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Away 02011-01-033 January 2011 Won
17 133 Sri Lanka 2 2 1/3 Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Home 02011-05-2626 May 2011 Won
18 106 Sri Lanka 2 3 2/3 Lord's, London Home 02011-06-033 June 2011 Won
19 294 dagger India 2 2 3/4 Edgbaston, Birmingham Home 02011-08-1010 August 2011 Won
20 115 South Africa 2 1 1/3 The Oval, London Home 02012-07-1919 July 2012 Lost
21 176 double-dagger India 1 3 1/4 Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Away 02012-11-1515 November 2012 Lost
22 122 double-dagger India 1 2 2/4 Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Away 02012-11-2323 November 2012 Won
23 190 double-dagger dagger India 1 2 3/4 Eden Gardens, Kolkata Away 02012-12-055 December 2012 Won
24 116 double-dagger New Zealand 1 2 1/3 University Oval, Dunedin Away 02013-03-066 March 2013 Drawn
25 130 double-dagger New Zealand 1 3 2/2 Headingley, Leeds Home 02013-05-2424 May 2013 Won
26 105 double-dagger West Indies 1 1 3/3 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Away 02015-05-011 May 2015 Lost
27 162 double-dagger New Zealand 2 3 1/2 Lord's, London Home 02015-05-2121 May 2015 Won
28 263 double-dagger dagger Pakistan 1 2 1/3 Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi Neutral 02015-10-1515 October 2015 Drawn
29 105 double-dagger Pakistan 1 1 2/4 Old Trafford, Manchester Home 02016-07-2222 July 2016 Won
30 130 double-dagger India 1 3 1/5 Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot Away 02016-11-1313 November 2016 Drawn
31 243 dagger West Indies 1 1 1/3 Edgbaston, Birmingham Home 02017-08-1717 August 2017 Won
32 244* dagger Australia 1 2 4/5 Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Away 02017-12-2626 December 2017 Drawn

External links[]

England ODI cricket captains

1970/71–1973: Illingworth • 1972: Close • 1973–1975: Denness • 1974/75: Edrich • 1976: Knott • 1976: Greig • 1977–1979/80: Brearley • 1977/78–1978: Boycott • 1978–1983/84: Willis • 1980–1981: Botham • 1981/82: Fletcher • 1983/84–1989: Gower • 1984/85: Gifford • 1986–1988: Gatting • 1986/87–1987: Emburey • 1988–1993: Gooch • 1989/90–1990/91: Lamb • 1991/92–2002/03: Stewart • 1993/94–1997: Atherton • 1996/97–2002/03: Hussain • 1997/98–1998/99: Hollioake • 2000/01: Thorpe • 2001/02–2005: Trescothick • 2003–2007: Vaughan • 2005/06–2006/07: Flintoff • 2005/06–2009: Strauss • 2007–2008: Collingwood • 2008: Pietersen • 2010–2014: Cook • 2011–: Morgan • 2014: Broad • 2015: Taylor • 2016: Buttler •

England T20I cricket captains

2005–2007: Vaughan • 2006–2009: Strauss • 2007–2010: Collingwood • 2009: Cook • 2011–2014: Broad • 2011: Swann • 2012–: Morgan • 2013: Tredwell • 2015, 2018: Buttler • 2020: Ali

Template:England Squad 2013 ICC Champions Trophy

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