- Former captain Alastair Cook is England’s all-time leading Test Match scorer
- The legendary opening batsman also won four Ashes series during his career
- Cook represented Essex and will go down as one of England’s greatest players
Sir Alastair Cook is about to bring up one of the most distinguished careers in English cricket history.
The former England captain will almost certainly retire next week at the end of a county season that he still hopes will deliver Essex another championship title.
The official news could come as soon as Friday, when Essex will hope to complete their home season by beating Hampshire to stay behind Surrey in the hunt for the title.
Cook is determined to retire quietly and does not want any fuss as he ends a career that has seen him become England’s record Test run scorer, win the Ashes twice as captain and serve his county with distinction.
But Essex would like to mark the occasion after Cook’s latest home appearance and plan a quiet drinks reception in honor of Cook and Dan Lawrence, who heads to Surrey at Chelmsford at the end of the season after completing their match against Hampshire. .
Former England captain Alastair Cook will retire from cricket at the end of the season
Cook is England’s all-time leading Test Match Run scorer, with the opener scoring 12,472 runs
The 38-year-old also won four Ashes series with England during a hugely decorated career
It would certainly be an occasion worth mentioning. Cook, 38, made 12,472 runs in his 161 Tests as he became one of the best and most important batsmen in England’s history.
He was also a good enough captain to lead England to the Ashes in 2013 and 2015 and was a key batting figure in Australia’s incredible victory in 2010/11 when they won 3-1 under Andrew Strauss with three wins per innings.
Cook’s England career came to a fairytale end when he made a century in his final Test against India five years ago, as the entire Oval emerged as one of the most popular and principled figures in the game.
Since then he has been determined to give as much back as he can to his beloved Essex and has had five seasons uninterrupted on international duty, during which he has been a big points scorer in the county and has considerable influence in the dressing room.
Cook was again a key figure in both Essex’s 2019 championship victory, winning the title in dramatic fashion against nearest rivals Somerset in the final match at Taunton, and the Bob Willis Trophy win in the subsequent Covid-hit year.
He is still as fit as ever and could still do good work for Essex into his 40s, as his mentor Graham Gooch did after the end of his own excellent career in England.
But Mail Sport understands he feels he has done as much as he can at all levels of the game and the time is right to pave the way for younger players.
After retiring from Test cricket in 2018, Cook (left) continued to represent his county of Essex
Cook (right) has also built his career as a pundit and is likely to do more media work
Cook will now return to the family farm that means so much to him and put more time into his new career in the media, which has seen him become an increasingly confident pundit at the BBC and what is now TNT Sport.
If a man who started life as a choirboy at St Paul’s Cathedral calls time, as expected, after Essex’s final match against Northants at Wantage Road next week, he will be able to look back on one of the greatest careers of all time and a leading role in a of the greatest careers ever. English test teams.
The perfect ending would be Essex bowling Surrey for the title with Cook making a duck in the first innings of the current match against Hampshire and scoring runs against Northants.
But even if that doesn’t happen – and Surrey are still heavy favorites – Cook can look back on everything he has achieved with immense pride.