The timing is right says England’s record-holder

man throughout his career, his returns reflected that this summer. In nine Tests since scoring an unbeaten double hundred in Melbourne his average return has been just under 19 runs; against India in four Tests so far in this series, just 15.57. They were numbers which signalled decline and which put paid to slim hopes which he almost certainly held earlier this year of stringing out his Test career to the Ashes next summer. With Cook’s life outside cricket offering him plenty he had no desire to cling on. In his statement Cook described it as a sad day but one on which he could wear a smile in the full knowledge he had given everything. The race was run, the timing right. He mentioned that it was time for the new generation of batsmen to step up but it is perhaps a new generation of a different sort, the arrival of a third child, that has focused his mind. With two girls already aged four and 18 months and the arrival of a third child any time now, Cook has had cause to ask himself questions about whether he wants to be away on Test tours in Sri Lanka and West Indies this winter. If he had been in the runs this summer you suspect the answer might have been yes, but when his mentor Graham Gooch observed last week that he was “flatlining a little bit” with no signs of improvement, the writing was on the wall.

Given their close relationship you can be sure that was not the first time Cook had heard the critique.

Clearly the prospect of a winter at the farm with his young family is more appealing than subjecting himself to the ongoing scrutiny.

Cook has achieved so much in the game and notched so many records – 32 centuries, 12,254 runs and 160 Tests (he will retire after the 161st) – and all of them highwater marks, the fact is he had little else to achieve in the game.

This summer was one last throw of the dice to prove the fire still burns, but the flame has shrunk to a flicker and that is not good enough for England, and clearly not good enough for Cook.

He may not be remembered as the most exciting player to pick up a bat – the bulk of his runs have come from a limited palette of three scoring shots; cutting, pulling and clipping off his legs.

But his fitness has put younger players in their place – his stamina on the infamous yo-yo bleep test to measure endurance is legendary. Aged 32 last summer, he was the last man standing after seeing off

HIS PLACE IN THE BATTING PANTHEON Alastair Cook stands sixth on the all-time list of the world’s leading Test run-scorers going into his final match