When a world-class cricketer retires, I tend to fall back upon a raft of statistics to ram home how good he or she was, as if evidence exists only in numbers. Of course, aggregates of runs or wickets, appearances, trophies and averages all combine to support any claim to greatness. However, Alastair Cook – who last week finally called it a day on the cricket field – transcends the data, if not in the usual way.
Cook never lifted a World Cup, smashed run-a-ball centuries or, as far as I know, smashed locker doors or people’s faces outside a Bristol club. Instead, once called up as a late replacement to an England tour of India in 2006, he didn’t look back. The runs flowed, and ‘Chef’ was an almost ever-present at the top of the batting order for the next twelve years. He wasn’t even dropped from the Test side, although he came close on occasions, and rarely dropped a catch in the slips.
It is easy to forget what a batting prodigy he was for Essex in his teens, and again for England. Alastair was also unusual in that arguably his outstanding individual run-making achievements came overseas, notably in India and Australia where many a career has floundered. The timing of his most notable innings was as perfect as his flicks through the leg-side, including book-ending his Test career with centuries, both against India. Then there was that hilarious burst of Bob Wilis bowling impressions which yielded his improbable sole Test wicket. Hang your head in shame, Ishant Sharma!
When he announced his retirement from international duty in 2018, I exhorted: “Alastair, please don’t do a Strauss and quit all cricket. 33 is too young for that.” Thankfully, he listened and, despite his deserved knighthood, played on for Essex until the end of 2023’s County Championship. To be honest, he was out of form, perhaps with retirement on his mind, but he was a vital cog in Essex’s formidable red-ball machine in recent years, depriving my Somerset of a few titles along the way. He was no fool with the bat in 50-over matches, either, although would never fit in with the Stokes-Buttler-Bairstow style of strokeplay.
I
saw him play only once in the flesh. It was late-afternoon at a damp Oval in
2013, carefully, unhurriedly and resolutely seeing off the new ball delivered
by Ryan Harris and Mitchell Starc. Yes, it was a boring final hour for the
crowd but he and Joe Root got the job done. I expect his opening partner that
day will soon eclipse Cook’s aggregate of Test runs and go down as one of
England’s, and indeed the world’s finest ever all-round batsmen, but will Sir Joe
Root devote his twilight years to Yorkshire’s Championship cause? I doubt it.
The world has moved on, and the Essex stalwart and Bedfordshire farmer
represents the end of an era.
