Alastair Cook
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Alastair Cook England (ENG) | ||
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| Batsman>Batting style | Left-hand bat | |
| Types of bowlers in cricket>Bowling type | Right-arm off-break | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 6 | 47 |
| '''Runs scored | 463 | 3314 |
| Batting average | 57.88 | 45.39 |
| 100s/50s | 2/2 | 8/20 |
| Top score | 105 | 195 |
| Balls bowled | - | 138 |
| Wickets | - | 3 |
| Bowling average | - | 35.66 |
| 5 Wicket>wickets in innings | - | - |
| 10 Wicket>wickets in match | - | - |
| Best bowling | - | 3/13 |
| Catches/Stump (cricket)#Manner of dismissing a batsman>stumpings | 3/- | 51/- |
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Test debut: 1 March, 2006 Last Test: 13 July, 2006 Source: [link] | ||
- Alastair Cook should not be confused with Alistair Cooke, journalist and broadcaster.
Cook was captain of England's Under-19 team in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, during which he scored two centuries as England reached the semi-finals.
Cook was educated at Bedford School where he broke records at will with his classy batting. He first played for the school First XI as a first year. When the MCC were a man short for their game against the school, Cook was drafted in - he scored an unbeaten century against the 1st XI and was in the 1st XI for the next five years. In 2003, he made 1,287 runs for the school, at a batting average of 160.87 - a school record number of runs. At the beginning of the 2005 season, whilst playing for the MCC, he scored another century, though this time the opponents were the reigning County Champions, Warwickshire, and the setting was Lord's. He has been marked for stardom and potential greatness by Derek Randall (coach at Bedford) and Graham Gooch (coach at Essex), as well as drawing effusive praise from the ex-director of the England Academy, Rod Marsh.
In 2005, he had an excellent season for Essex, with a first-class batting average of 52.35 including five centuries and a top score of 195. He also scored 214 in a two-day warm up match against the Australian touring side in September 2005. In August 2005 he was voted Young Cricketer of the Year by the Cricket Writers' Club, and was named Professional Cricketers Association Young Player of the Year at the end of the 2005 season.
He was included in the ECB National Academy in the winter of 2005-06, but was called up to the England squad touring Pakistan when the captain, Michael Vaughan, was injured. He was named in the England A team to play in the West Indies, but was called up again to the England squad touring India in February 2006 after an injury to Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick's departure from the tour. He was one of three cricketers making their England Test debuts on 1 March 2006 in the first Test against India in Nagpur. Playing as an opening batsman, Cook made 60 in his first Test innings and 104 not out in his second, becoming the sixteenth English batsman to score a century on Test debut. He played his first home test match against Sri Lanka on the 11th May, again replacing the injured Michael Vaughan. In England's one innings he scored 89, while also dropping two catches in a game where England dropped nine, to draw against Sri Lanka. He ended the series with an average of 43 with the bat.
He made a century at Lords in the first test of the next series against Pakistan, scoring 105 off 279 balls.
References
- [Player Profile: ] from Cricinfo
- Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 2004
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