Cricket: Cook joins the 10,000 club

In modern cricket, scoring 10,000 Test runs is the mark of true greatness, said Paul Newman in the Daily Mail. Just 12 cricketers can claim membership of this elite club, among them Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara – and now Alastair Cook. The England captain reached the tally on Monday, in the second Test against Sri Lanka; at 31 years and 157 days, he is the youngest batsman and first English cricketer to achieve the feat. Cook is “not one for personal milestones”: when the moment came, he merely “raised his bat almost sheepishly”. But he clearly knew this was “more important than anything he has achieved” in his ten-year Test career.

It’s amazing to think that Cook’s ability was once questioned, said Lawrence Booth in the same paper. He was almost axed in 2010, saved only by a century against Pakistan; two years ago, during a disastrous spell for the Test side, he was under constant attack. And it’s true that Cook can’t quite match his fellow luminaries in the “10k club”: his average of 46.49 is lower than any other member. Nor is he the flashiest of batsmen, with just ten Test sixes to his name – “England fans have tended to be reassured by Cook’s presence, not enraptured by it”. But he demonstrates that “it is not necessary to dazzle to excel”, said Vic Marks in The Guardian. He is so successful precisely because “he always bats in the same way”. Cook’s consistency, his steadiness, are what lend him such appeal, agreed Tom Fordyce on BBC Sport online. “In a fast-forward world, he is a player from another time, a writer of epic novels in an age of the tweet.” Indeed, he is probably the last “pure Test specialist” this country will ever produce. There have been more naturally gifted English cricketers, but few who have so fulfilled their potential. Cook has been “the best he can be” – and there is “more, much more, to come”.