Essex’s Sam Cook sets his sights on breaking into England’s Test team

Whenever potential England Test bowlers are assessed, the focus is on whether or not they offer a significant point of difference. Well, Sam Cook certainly does: his wickets have been taken more frugally than any rival for over half a century.

Others may be faster through the air, hit harder on the pitch or gain more bounce, but they can’t match the 25-year-old sailor’s statistic heights in a burgeoning career that has already included two County Championship titles.

Last September he became the first Englishman to score 200 first-class casualties at a cost of less than 20 runs apiece since Alan Ward at Derbyshire in 1971. Five Lancashire scalps in the first innings of the current County Championship match at Chelmsford brought his tally to 213 at 17.9 for Essex.

“It’s extremely nice to get a record like that and it will probably be one when I retire to look back on and be proud of,” said Cook.

“One thing it does do is reinforce what I think is my role – getting as many wickets as I can, for a few runs if I can. Cricket is a game we can all overcomplicate, but that’s ultimately what you’re trying to do as a bowler.’

He has taken over 200 wickets at under 20 runs apiece for Essex since his debut in 2016

Plus, last winter’s England Lions tourist rivals Ollie Robinson by proving he’s fast enough for international cricket. At some point in the not-too-distant future, the Test team will select successors for Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Increasing his speed has been one of the goals Cook has set by ECB performance director Mo Bobat since first registering on UK radar 18 months ago. Something he addressed during last year’s Hundred finals with Trent Rockets when he regularly burst through opposing defenses to collect the man-of-the-match award.

“There’s probably been a perception that I’m a bit of a dibbly-dobbler, but over the past few years, talking to hitters and coaches, I think they’ve seen an improvement in pace, which was key in my breakthrough in the Lions set-up,” he told Mail Sport.

‘The fame of the Hundred may have been good for that, to get it across to people who may not have seen a whole bunch of county cricket.

“I know I’ll never be a 90-mph bowler, but I’ll always try to add a little pace if I can, or try to stay more upright in my action for bounce, or bowl perfectly with a Kookaburra ball or add a reverse swing.

“Perfecting each of those skills is going to be my way to that next level, so I want to be exceptional in everything – whether it’s moving the ball sideways or moving it in the air, or accuracy or whatever. It’s about taking each area as high as possible.’

Cook is inspired by England Test coach Brendon McCullum and wants to break into England’s Test team with the Ashes just around the corner

Conditions in Sri Lanka are as challenging as any in the world for pace bowlers, and while Cook’s results reflected that in two four-day ‘Tests’ earlier this year, he will no doubt leave his numbers at home in the coming months. , after seizing his chance to appear for Brendon McCullum in the Lions’ crushing innings, won against South Africa at Canterbury last summer.

“It felt like a complete England with him and the coaching team present and the way he spoke to the group at the beginning of that week about how he wanted us to play was quite inspiring. For those of us who haven’t experienced it, that gave a good insight into what a test match week might look like,” continued a man dubbed Little Chef at Chelmsford due to the presence of teammate and more famous namesake Alastair Cook.

“I wouldn’t say the buzz for Test cricket has ever gone away as that remains the pinnacle for any county cricketer, but last summer it felt like the sport was being revived in this country by the way the England team played.

“It felt like it filtered down and represented a reset for the whole game.”