Cook in line to take up icon’s role

SAM COOK is set to be the big beneficiary of

England pensioning off Jimmy Anderson.

Uncapped Essex seamer Cook has enjoyed a prolific county career, taking

290 wickets at a miserly 19 runs apiece, 25 of them this season, making him the most successful bowler in Division One.

Now 26, a perceived lack of speed through the air has gone against him in past international selections, but he has increased his pace since being challenged to do so and continues to tick other boxes when challenged.

Significantly, last month, Cook (above) was the one seamer who enjoyed the trialling in the County Championship of the batter-friendly Kookaburra ball used in Ashes series in Australia and the majority of overseas Tests, taking 10 for 73 against Nottinghamshire.

And he has also done his utmost to show he is not someone whose major damage is done with the new ball on green, early-season pitches.

Analysts’ data charting the past 10 seasons show that Cook is the most effective English-qualified seamer in second innings of County Championship games, striking every 38 balls at a cost of only 16 runs per wicket.

He will therefore come into the mix to inherit Anderson’s role in the Test side against West Indies and Sri Lanka — along with Ollie Robinson, Matthew Potts and Chris Woakes.

With planning for the next Ashes effectively starting now, England are entering an experimental phase. Ideally, they would like genuinely fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Mark Wood to be fully match-fit for the winter tours of Pakistan and New Zealand.

Others should get a chance, fitness permitting, on home soil: Josh

Tongue and Jamie Overton, both of whom have appeared in the Bazball era, Olly Stone, resurrecting his injury-hit career, and Brydon Carse, whose standing was clear when the ECB asked Durham to restrict him to five of the first seven four-day games.

But Tongue and Overton have struggled with injuries this season.