Meet the teenager who bowled Cook – then took a GCSE
Fifteen-year-old did not expect to face the former England captain with his club side, let alone take his wicket
Kyran Shackleton, a 15-year-old club cricketer from Royston, knew he was in for a significant week. On Wednesday, he was due to sit his first GCSE exam, English literature. On Thursday, he had religious studies, then on Friday it was the one he dreaded: chemistry. First though, on Monday evening, he was to play for Potton Town’s first XI in a cup game against Bedfordshire Farmers Cricket Club.
He thought it might offer a bit of pre-exam relaxation. Instead, he managed to do what only 35 bowlers – all of them professional, many international – had managed across 251 Test innings of excellence: he clean bowled Alastair Cook.
Someone was filming his efforts. And after the video – which the youngster admits he watched continuously for an hour before going to sleep on Monday night – was posted on social media, it went viral.
“At the moment, I would say it has changed my life,” says Shackleton.
The whole joyous collision of a Test great and a keen, young enthusiast came about because Cook, though still playing for Essex, once a year makes a point of turning out for Bedfordshire Farmers. He is, after all, a farmer himself. And he likes to do his bit for his peers. When Potton were drawn to play the Farmers in the county cup, nobody at the club expected the great man to make his one appearance against them.
“But then we were in the changing room before the game and the umpire stuck his head round the door and said: you’re going to have a fun one, Cookie’s playing for them,” says Shackleton. “And we all just thought: oh, my God, we are in for a proper tapping.”
When it came to Potton bowling, Shackleton was first change. Selfeffacingly describing his bowling as “erratic and slow”, he still managed to have Bedfordshire Farmers’ No4 batsman caught behind in his second over.
“I’m not sure many of my teammates thanked me for that wicket,” he says. “Because the next man in was Alastair Cook.”
The former England captain was not hanging around, quickly accumulating 20 runs off 14 balls.
“Some of his shots were just unreal, so effortless, particularly off his pads,” recalls Shackleton.
When he started his next over, Shackleton was aware he needed a strategy. “I knew if I bowled at his pads, he’d find a way to clip it,” he says. “So, I decided to try to get a line where a fourth stump might be. The light wasn’t that great and I think it caught him off guard. Next thing I know, he’s clean bowled.”
On the video, Shackleton’s reaction is instructive: there is no ostentatious choreographed celebration. Just a short yelp of what sounds like surprise. “It was surprise, I couldn’t believe it,” he says.
It was a moment that spoke eloquently of the democracy of sport. Here was a 15-year-old who has never been picked up by the county system bowling out a man who scored 12,472 Test runs. And it was only made possible because Cook was prepared to play with a bunch of enthusiasts.
“He was absolutely brilliant with everyone,” says Shackleton. “After the game, I had a chat with him and he made a joke about how even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a good nut. He hung around buying everyone drinks until about 10. I had to go before then, though. I had an exam on Wednesday and hadn’t done any revision.”
And the next day, after showing his schoolmates the video, Shackleton returned to his studies. Then, when he was in a history lesson, a message came through that Talksport wanted to speak to him. After that, his phone did not stop.
“I keep hoping it might be a county ringing to offer me a place in their academy,” he says. “That hasn’t happened yet. But you never know.”