Loss of mental edge led to retirement: Cook
LONDON:Losing the mental toughness he attributed to his longevity made him decide it was time to quit international cricket, England’s record run-getter Alastair Cook said on Wednesday.
“I’ve always been mentally incredibly tough and had that edge to everything I’ve done, but that edge had kind of gone. The thing I’d found easy before wasn’t quite there and to me that was the biggest thing,” the former England skipper said in a media interaction at The Oval ahead of his farewell Test against India.
EMOTIONAL TIME
Cook, 33, spoke about getting emotional as he broke the news to his teammates after the seriesclinching win over India at Southampton on Sunday and the adulation he has got since then, having faced questions as he struggled for consistency in the last two years.
“It’s been a bit surreal,” he said. “One of my friends rang me to check I was still alive because everyone was talking as if I’d died. It’s nice when you hear so many nice words said about you.”
Cook, who will play an England record 161st Test -- it will push his all-time record in a row to 159 -- hopes he can score runs in his final game.
He picked the 2010-11 Ashes win in Australia (766 runs at 127.66) and the 2012-13 win in India as captain, scoring three centuries as his top performances.
“You can’t really look past those two away series where I was Man-of-the-Series and we won in Australia and India. That was the best I could play and probably in my career as a whole I can look back and say I probably became the best player I could become.
“That actually means quite a lot to me. Yes, I’ve never been the most talented cricketer and I can’t pretend I was, but I definitely think I got everything out of my ability.”
ISHANT’S REVENGE
And the toughest bowler faced? Cook joked Ishant Sharma, who has got him 11 times and won their duel in this series, was avenging his dismissing him -- as his only Test scalp-- in the 2014 Trent Bridge game. “I must regret getting Ishant out as my wicket, because he’s kind of got his revenge since, getting me out constantly over the last couple of series. The ball going away from me from around the wicket, I found the hardest to conquer.
“But in general, a bowler how maybe is not the quickest but constantly hits line and lengths -- I never had the power or the shots to knock bowlers off these lengths. So a bowler who hangs it there and doesn’t give me the pace to work with, that I found the hardest.”
KP LOW
The controversy leading to Kevin Pietersen’s sacking after the disastrous Ashes tour of 2013-14 was the worst phase of Cook’s career.
“Of course, there are decisions in hindsight that you question. Clearly the KP affair was a tough year, no doubt about that.”