Legands are honoured by the county

ESSEX Cricket has commemorated two of the county’s legends with a renaming of the ends at The Cloud County Ground.

The Hayes Close End, as the side of the ground closest to East London, will now be known as the Graham Gooch End, while the

River End will be named the Sir Alastair Cook End.

Born in Whipps Cross in 1953, Graham Gooch was educated at Norlington School and Leyton Sixth Form College in East London, and went on to represent Essex between 1973 and 1997.

He played 118 Tests and 125 ODIs for England, captaining his country in the longest format on 34 occasions, scoring 67,057 runs in first-class and List A cricket combined.

Gooch also played 391 first-class matches for Essex, scoring 30,701 runs at an average of 51.77, and a top score of 275.

For two decades he was England’s all-time Test run-scorer with 8,900 runs, until he was overtaken in 2015 by Cook, the other player to be honoured in this latest update to The Cloud County Ground.

Cook still holds the record of most Test runs scored in an England shirt, with 12,472 runs to his name, and represented Essex from 2003 until his retirement last October.

He captained England in 59 of his 161 Tests, as well as in 69 of his 92 ODIs, and holds the record for most consecutive appearances by an individual in Test cricket, with an unbroken run of 159.

Cook represented the county in 158 first-class matches, scoring 11,337 runs at an average of 45.16 with 31 centuries. He announced his retirement following the conclusion of the 2023 season.

The duo also enjoyed a close bond with Gooch mentoring Cook throughout his career whilst at Essex and England.

John Stephenson, Chief Executive Officer at Essex Cricket, said: “It’s a real honour to rename the bowling ends at The Cloud County Ground after two legends of Essex cricket. We’re a club with a long history, and it’s important that we recognise that. The renaming of our ground ends allows us to pay tribute to two of our finest players of all time.

“For their respective contributions to our club, I can’t think of many people more deserving of this honour than Graham and Sir Alastair.”