Look who’s still Cooking on gas with a white ball?
ALASTAIR Cook’s latest star turn for Essex offered more evidence that shedding the burden of the Test captaincy might indeed lead to a run-laden final chapter of his career.
For those who have become used to watching England’s freakishly-talented one-day batting line-up, Cook’s innings of 109 in 131 balls probably felt pedestrian.
That was the charge laid at Cook’s door when his international 50-over career was terminated in late 2014 after he was stripped of the captaincy following a disappointing tour of Sri Lanka.
However, Cook’s 11th List A century was hugely important in the context of this match after Sussex’s Jerome Taylor had routed Essex’s top order with a stunning hat-trick.
The West Indian fast bowler accounted for Varun Chopra, Tom Westley and Adam Wheater in the space of three balls, the last a 90-miles-per-hour yorker, to leave Essex floundering on 193 in the fifth over.
Cook, though, dug in and a 142-run stand with Ryan Ten Doeschate, the Essex captain who also reached three figures, was the platform from which the home side managed to chisel out a total of 295.
The winning margin for Essex was only 10 runs. But this fourth victory in five matches kept alive their hopes of topping the South Group and securing a home semi-final.
If they do then they will owe much to Cook, whose second century of the competition took his tally in 50-over cricket this summer to 317 runs at an average of 63.40.
Allied to his performances in Essex’s County Championship campaign, Cook now has 530 runs this summer at 58.32.
This is positive news for England ahead of Cook’s international return in July, when he will be absorbed into the ranks under the new captaincy of Joe Root for the first Test against South Africa at Lord’s.
“I’ve been going okay,” said Cook. “It’s nice to score a few runs at the start of the season.
“I think Tendo’s knock probably changed the game but it was good to come back from 19-3 and to get close to 300 was a good effort.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever experienced a hattrick at the other end – I’ve been part of one before. I knew then I had to take it deep, I had to be the one batting through and actually it was quite frustrating.
“I thought it was a really good wicket and you’re itching to play a few more shots but I had to play really low-risk cricket for a long time trying to take it deep. So it was a little bit frustrating to bat like that on that wicket but I’ll take the runs.”
Asked how life has changed since he quit the Test captaincy in February, Cook replied: “It hasn’t really changed too much because there has been no Test cricket.
“I’m sure the first week in July, if I’m picked at Lord’s, will be slightly strange but it’s nice being in the ranks now and contributing runs.”
Ten Doeschate, dropped on 38 by Ajmal Shahzad before going on to score 102 in 91 balls, said: “The way Jerome set the game up early on – we were in a lot of trouble. But that’s why we’ve got Alastair Cook. It was a serious knock to soak up all that pressure.”
Essex were also sloppy in the field and threatened to throw away the game when Jofra Archer’s late blitz – the Barbados-born all-rounder smashing 45 from 22 balls – put Sussex right back in contention.
But Paul Walter, the 22-yearold all-rounder who took three wickets on his List A debut, eventually dismissed Archer and then wrapped up victory with 11 balls to spare by bowling Taylor with a well-disguised slower ball.
Sussex captain Luke Wright commented: “When you get a hat-trick you don’t want to be chasing near 300.
“And you don’t want to drop Ten Doeschate too often. That was a huge moment in the game.”