LEGEND DEPARTS IN STYLE
ALASTAIR COOK made light work of his astonishing final day in the limelight, which is more than can be said for The Oval crowd.
They got to their feet for at least nine standing ovations as Cook signed off with an emotional 147, having lived the dream of scoring a century in his final Test innings for England.
With Cook 46 not out overnight, 19,300 fans turned up to watch, inspired by the thought of seeing one last magical innings from England’s leading run scorer of all time.
They went home on cloud nine after the opener delivered what they wanted most.
When Cook looks back on his career there will be little doubt this will be among his most treasured days.
In addition to finishing his career with a magnificent innings as England sailed towards victory, his best friend in the England dressing room, Jimmy Anderson, then went and equalled Glenn McGrath’s fast bowling record of 563 wickets.
And for a player who seems more comfortable celebrating the success of others than his own triumphs, that pretty much made things perfect. With India 36-3 chasing 464 for victory, Joe Root took Anderson out of the attack after five overs.
It was a classy piece of captaincy as the tourists finished on 58-3, given that it ensured the day remained all about Cook.
The first of the standing ovations came as he made his way out to bat.
Punched
There was another on reaching his halfcentury and again when he reached 76, overtaking Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara as the fifth most prolific Test batsman and leading left-hander.
The biggest two were reserved for his century, which arrived before lunch, and then when he was out. Having reached 95 with a punched straight drive off Jasprit Bumrah, his ton came from the same source but in a very different way.
Fielding at backward point, Bumrah turned a hurried single into a five as he flung the ball at the non-striker’s end only to see it to race to the boundary.
The milestone also saw Cook become the first England player to score a hundred in both his first and last appearances.
Root hugged him, the crowd acclaimed him and the ovation went on for nearly two minutes.
Cook apparently worried it might not stop, taking his guard as Ravi Jadeja waited patiently and admitting afterwards: “I thought they wouldn’t shut up.”
He was out when he feathered a cut off the bowling of Hanuma
Vihari to Rishabh Pant one ball after Root (125) had mistimed a drive to mid-on to end their
259-run partnership.
And as six-and-a-half hours,
286 balls, 161 Tests, 12 and a half years, 26,562 total deliveries yielding 12,472 runs came to an end, the crowd stood up once more.