Alastair Cook considered retirement during Ashes

MUMBAI : England batsman Alastair Cook revealed he contemplated retirement following his struggles in the Ashes 2017-18, but the epic knock at Melbourne gave him the confidence to carry on. Cook’s struggles were evident with the senior England batsman failing to score 40 or more on each of the occasions barring one — at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when he carried his bat for a superlative 244 not out. The 33-year-old acknowledged that he felt being under pressure and even mulled retirement. “To bat as badly as I did for pretty much two months and then for 10 hours bat as well as I’ve ever done was quite strange. But it showed I’ve still got it. There were some dark moments on that tour when I could have said ‘I don’t need this anymore’ and just jacked it in.”